Featured Snake – Rhinoceros Viper
Rhinoceros Viper
(Bitis Nasicornis)
Photo By Al Coritz
Identification: This is a large and stout snake ranging from 72 to 107 cm. Females are larger of the two. They have a distinctive set of 2-3 hornlike scales on the end of their nose. They are brightly coloured snakes although after they have shed their colours dull rapidly as silt from their environment collects on their skin.
Areas: Rhinoceros Vipers are found from Central West Africa all the way through to East Africa, Specimens from the west are more blue while those from the East are more green in colour.
Habits: Rhinoceros Vipers are mainly nocturnal and hide during the day in leaf litter, holes in the ground and around tangled roots of forest trees. Rhinoceros Vipers are slow moving but are known to strike extremely quickly forwards or sideways. Without coiling first or giving a warning. When approached they often reveal their presense by hissing and are said to produce the loudest hiss of any african snake.
Breeding: The females give birth to between 6 and 38 young which are between 18 and 25 centimetres in length.
Danger to man: Not much is known about the venom of a Rhino Viper but it is similar to that of the other large african vipers (puff adders and Gaboon Vipers) and fatalities have been recorded.
Photographer: Dawson
