WEIRD FESTIVAL PHOTOS: Snake Roundups, Worm Races, More

WEIRD FESTIVAL PHOTOS: Snake Roundups, Worm Races, More
WEIRD FESTIVAL PHOTOS: Snake Roundups, Worm Races, More
WEIRD FESTIVAL PHOTOS: Snake Roundups, Worm Races, More
WEIRD FESTIVAL PHOTOS: Snake Roundups, Worm Races, More
WEIRD FESTIVAL PHOTOS: Snake Roundups, Worm Races, More
WEIRD FESTIVAL PHOTOS: Snake Roundups, Worm Races, More
WEIRD FESTIVAL PHOTOS: Snake Roundups, Worm Races, More
WEIRD FESTIVAL PHOTOS: Snake Roundups, Worm Races, More
WEIRD FESTIVAL PHOTOS: Snake Roundups, Worm Races, More
WEIRD FESTIVAL PHOTOS: Snake Roundups, Worm Races, More
WEIRD FESTIVAL PHOTOS: Snake Roundups, Worm Races, More
WEIRD FESTIVAL PHOTOS: Snake Roundups, Worm Races, More
WEIRD FESTIVAL PHOTOS: Snake Roundups, Worm Races, More
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WEIRD FESTIVAL PHOTOS: Snake Roundups, Worm Races, More
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World's Largest Rattlesnake Roundup
Sweetwater, Texas

Spectators watch snakes being weighed in a pit in Sweetwater, Texas.

Every March for 51 years, collectors have delivered thousands of western diamondbacks that are later killed for scientific and commercial use—culling about one percent of the state's rattlers, experts estimate.

Herpetologists and conservationists oppose the roundups, which fetch a collector U.S. $5 per pound of snake. This year's take: 5,000 pounds (2,268 kilograms).

Photographer and National Geographic Young Explorer Ross McDermott seeks out little-known and offbeat events and festivals.

—Photograph by Andrew Owen
 

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