Death Adders in GURPS

What else? Well, in addition to the boots wear thick, baggy trousers, and preferably have half a dozen people tramping along in front of you making as much noise as possible. The snakes pick up the vibrations and get out of your way, unless its a death adder, otherwise known as the deaf adder, which just lies there. People can walk right past it and over it and nothing happens. I've heard of twelve people in a line walking over a death adder and the twelfth person accidentally trod on it and got bitten.

- Dr. Struan Sutherland, "Last Chance to See" by Douglas Adams

The death adders are a genus of atypical elapids, being short, stocky, and slow moving with broad triangular heads. They are ambush predators, lying in wait for prey to happen by. Often, they will partially cover themselves in debris for additional camouflage. When they detect potential prey, they will try to lure it within striking distance by twitching their tail so that it looks like a grub or worm. After biting, the death adder waits for its prey to succumb before slowly tracking it to recover its meal.

Death adders can be particularly dangerous because they do not typically flee from people. Instead, they stay still, trusting to their camouflage to hide them and keep them out of trouble. Consequently, they are often trod on, whereupon the frightened snake will strike out in pain and desparation, sinking its fangs into its unwitting foe and delivering a full dose of venom.

Death adders live throughout most of Australia. They are found in deserts, forests, and grasslands.

Death adders give birth to live young.

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