InSitu - Image and Nature Festival of Vouzela
Group exhibition - Endemic "Terrestrial Reptiles"
Individual work - The "False Viper" of our waters
Exhibition with a collective theme about the terrestrial reptiles of the Portuguese territory, composed of photographs of 20 native species.
Exhibition
My photograph, selected by the Insitu organizing committee, was taken in the Guadiana Valley Natural Park, at the "Tapada Grande" river beach, near the São Domingos Mines, and depicts a viperine water snake. I titled the photograph "The 'False Viper' of Our Waters".
The viperine water snake (Natrix maura) is a harmless and non-venomous species. When threatened, it adopts a mimicry behavior, enlarging its head to resemble a viper and scare away predators, hence its name. Active during the day and an excellent swimmer, it feeds on fish and amphibians, including the pumpkinseed sunfish, an invasive species present in the photograph. This behavior highlights its crucial role in the balance of aquatic ecosystems.
This work was presented as part of the "InSitu - Vouzela Image and Nature Festival", in the collective exhibition Endemic "Terrestrial Reptiles", which opened on February 7, 2026, next to the Vouzela courthouse. This exhibition aimed to showcase the reptile species of our country, a group of animals often misunderstood. In addition to my work with the viperine water snake, this exhibition also included 22 other photographs by other photographers, each corresponding to a native reptile species.
These species and photographers were: Striped-necked terrapin (Vasco Flores Cruz); Mediterranean turtle (Renato Lainho); Chameleon (João Pontes); Blind snake (Bernardo Lam); Mediterranean grass snake (Hugo Amador); Viperine water snake (Nuno Santos and João Vieira Rodrigues); Ladder snake (Tiago Magalhães and João Pereira Rodrigues); Horseshoe snake (Rui Lemos); Three-toed legless snake (Sérgio Esteves); Rat snake (Artur Alves); Water lizard (Bernardete Pedreira Amorim); Mountain lizard (Bernardo Lam); Squamata lizard (José Morgado Martins); Lusitanian lizard (Marco Caetano); Slow worm (Carlos Rios); Wild Gecko (Pedro Alves); Moorish Gecko (Ricardo Lourenço); Iberian Wall Lizard (Luís Ferreira and José Freitas); Horned Viper (André Brito); Seoane's Viper (Pedro Alves).
