Horned viper: description, habitat, lifestyle

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:44

The horned viper has firmly established itself in the African deserts for a long time, terrifying the natives. By its appearance alone, this creature can scare, because small, but ugly horns flaunt over the eyes of a reptile. Everyone understands that the danger lies not at all in this unusual decoration for snakes, but they are still afraid.

As for the danger, it is worth remembering the well-known, very poisonous snake called Noisy. The horned viper is similar to it in that both have an indicator of poison toxicity that just rolls over. Its hemolytic toxins greatly increase the rate of tissue decomposition. In their family, these poisonous reptiles are in the first place in terms of danger to humans. But today let's talk about one of them - the horned viper.

Horned Viper: Description

Uninformed people may confuse the horned viper with its relative, which also has an ornament in the form of small horns. It is called the horned tree viper. The differences between these poisonous persons are significant. tree reptilelives in Tanzania in the mountain ranges, and its color from yellow with a green tint can reach black or gray, which cannot be said about the horned viper. In a word, they are connected only by belonging to the same genus, extraordinary poisonousness and horns on their heads.

It's time to return to our main character of the article - the horned viper. Her body in length reaches 65-70 cm. The body is quite massive and thick, you cannot call this person thin. The tail is short, sharply tapering towards the end.

The head is triangular in shape, it is strictly limited by the neck interception from the body. The eyes are large with vertical pupils. Above the eyes, the scales are vertically raised, they have sharp tips. In appearance, such a snake "decoration" looks exactly like small horns, you look at them and feel twofold feelings - fear and admiration!

The whole body of the viper is covered with scales, they are directed at an angle down, thus forming a semblance of a saw. The color of the back is yellow, olive spots are located along the sides and back.

Habitat

The horned viper lives in hot deserts and sand dunes. The range of this poisonous creature extends to North Africa and part of the Arabian Peninsula. The hot sands are the home of this reptile.

She moves sideways, throwing the back of her body to the side and at the same time forward. When the breeding season comes, the viper looks for a place with a small amount of water. And the rest of the time it feels great in a waterless area, perfectly enduring sharp changes in daily temperature.

Horned Viper:lifestyle

The horned beauty is a sole proprietor, she does not like companies, the only exception is the marriage period. The viper leads an active lifestyle at night, likes to soak up the sun during the day, but sleeps more, buried in the sand or hiding among the rocks. "Sunbathing" under the sun's rays, she tries to arrange herself so that most of her body is exposed to the sun.

If the horned viper notices danger, it immediately does everything to scare the enemy. Usually in such cases, it folds into a half ring and rubs one side against the other. During such snake movements, the scales rub against each other, while making an extremely unpleasant sound. Hearing it, you immediately want to get away from this dangerous place.

The snake goes hunting at night, but if in the light of day it comes across easy prey, the horned predator will not miss the opportunity to eat. Hunts, up to the very eyes buried in the sand. In this way, she can wait for her prey for a long time.

As soon as prey appears nearby, the viper immediately attacks it, opening its mouth wide. The fangs move forward and become vertical. When the mouth closes on the body of the victim, the snake bites through their skin and injects poison. After that, releasing the prisoner, the huntress calmly waits. The waiting time is calculated in minutes, then the reptile touches the immovable body with its tongue, if the prey does not react, then the snake swallows it whole.

The viper menu includes: birds, reptiles, rodents and other small prey.

Reproduction

The mating season for horned vipers runs from April to June. At this time, the snakes are extremely active, they scurry about in search of a partner. Having met, vipers do not spend time together for a long time. As soon as mating occurs, they spread out into their territories.

Being an egg-laying snake, the horned viper diligently looks for a place with wet ground. When a site is found, the fertilized female digs a hole and lays her eggs there. In one snake clutch there are up to 20 eggs. Burying the egg with her future offspring, the satisfied reptile crawls away about her business, her mother's mission is over.

After two months, little vipers emerge from the eggs. They are not at all helpless, like most newborns. From the first day of life, they show the skills of predators, skillfully swallowing locusts. As the prey of snakes grows, it becomes more and more significant, and they themselves add in size. Horned vipers become sexually mature at the age of two.

As mentioned earlier, the bite of representatives of this species of snakes is deadly. It seems that there is no person who would like to be next to this monster. But, despite the danger, many terrarium lovers have horned vipers at home. It is worth noting that in captivity, under proper conditions, these reptiles feel great.