Gaboon viper
Bitis gabonica
— Where the name comes from
Gabonica names Gabon, though the species occupies a belt of forest from Guinea to Uganda. The name says nothing about its appearance, which is the real distinction: the pattern of the back is a run of rectangles, triangles and hourglasses in the colours of dead leaves, and it is probably the most effective camouflage of any snake in the world.
— Facts
- Group
- Reptiles · Reptilia
- Order
- Squamates
- Habitat
- Rainforest and gallery-forest floor
- Range
- Central and West Africa
- Size
- 120–150 cm, up to 200 cm; 8–20 kg
- Diet
- Rodents, birds, small antelope
- Lifespan
- 18 years
— Characteristics
- 01
It is the heaviest viper in the world.
- 02
It has the longest fangs of any snake: up to five centimetres.
- 03
It injects more venom in one bite than any other species.
— What sets it apart
It does not let go. Nearly all venomous snakes strike and withdraw at once, to avoid injury from thrashing prey; this one strikes and holds on, waiting for the animal to die between its jaws. It can afford to because it is huge, muscular and imperturbable, and because on the forest floor it has nothing to fear. Herpetologists describe it as one of the most placid snakes alive: almost every documented bite involves somebody who had picked it up off the ground, mistaking it for a pile of leaves.
