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Viper

A viper is a venomous snake, belonging to the Viperidae family (consisting of roughly 150 species). A viper is characterised by its long erectile fangs, which are folded back when not in use. They also have triangle-shaped heads with a distinctly narrower neck. (The broad areas of the head house the venom glands.) Their eyes have iriseses like a cat's eye (but if you are close enough to see that, you're probably too close!) Being 0.3-3 m long, vipers feed on small animals, which are injected with venom and then dragged along until they die.

Common NameTechnical NameGeographic Range
Bushmaster Lachesis muta South America
Bush Viper Atberis squamigerAngola, Cameroon, Uganda, Kenya
Cyclades Blunt-Nosed ViperVipera lebetina schweizeriGreece
Crossed Viper Vipera berus berusBritish Isles, Russia, China, Spain
European Asp Vipera aspis aspisAustria, Germany, Italy, France
Fea's Viper Azemips feae Burma, SE Tibet, China
Gaboon Viper Bitis gabonica gabonicaMost areas of Africa
Horned Desert Viper Cerastes cerastes cerastesEgypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq
Leaf-Nosed Viper Eristocopbis macmaboniIran, Afghanistan, Pakistan
Long-Nosed Viper Vipera ammodytes ammodytesHungary, Austria, Italy, Romania
Palestinian Viper Vipera palaestinaeIsrael, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan
Rhinoceros Viper Bitis nasicornis Kenya, Uganda, Angola, Zaire
Rough-Scaled Tree ViperAtberis bispidus Kenya, Uganda, Zaire
Russel's Viper ''Vipera russellii russelliiPakistan, India
Saw-Scaled Viper Echis carinatus leakeyiKenya, Somalia, Ethiopia

See also: Adder

Reference


For the Dodge automobile called Viper, see
Dodge Viper.