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There’s a photo making the rounds in e-mail inboxes across the Valley of a rattlesnake den that was supposedly taken at South Mountain.
If you’re not a snake person, the photo’s reminiscent of an Indiana Jones movie and is probably enough to make you wanna cry — check it out above.
It turns out, however, that the odds of the photo being taken in Phoenix — or anywhere else in Arizona — aren’t good.
The snakes pictured, according to experts at the Arizona Game and Fish Department, don’t even exist in the Valley.
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The expert tells KPHO that the Valley is home to six different types of rattlesnakes but that the ones seen in the photo are prairie rattlesnakes, which don’t live in the Valley and are rarely seen at all in the entire state of Arizona.
According to the expert, the vegetation surrounding the snake pit suggests that the photo was actually taken in the Great Basin near the Sierra Nevada Mountains, not in Arizona.
Snake pits in Arizona, according to the expert, would never have anywhere near the number of snakes seen in the photo. Your standard Arizona pit would only have anywhere from one to 12 snakes.
Click here for a video further explaining the confusion.