Gabon viper: the famous thick snake with the strongest poison (8 photos)

It is very bad and unfair when the crime is blamed not on the villain, but on the victim. But not in the case of Gaboon vipers! If someone is bitten by this snake, 99% of the blame lies solely with the person bitten. Why? I'll tell you now!





Even the calmest creature can be angered if you wake it up at 6 am.

The Gabon viper, or cassava, is the fattest and laziest snake in the world. Well, at least on the African continent, for sure. You can meet reptiles in the tropical forests of central and southern Africa. Their length is small - up to two meters. But they weigh more than 11 kilograms! For comparison, the closest relatives of the cassava in the snout of the noisy viper face, with the same length, weigh half as much. With such dimensions, the waist circumference of Gaboon vipers is enormous by snake standards - up to 47 centimeters! My skinny friend will have even less!



I'm not fat! I just have wide scales! Notice how gorgeous the disguise is. Finding such a snake in the withered leaves of the forest is an impossible task.

In order for Her Majesty the fat reptile to deign to tear her butt out of place, you need to try hard. And in order to attack, bite and inject poison, you will have to try twice as hard! Serpentologists say that you can handle cassava completely fearlessly, as if in front of you is not the most poisonous reptile of the genus of African vipers, but some kind of snake. They also say that we are lucky: if these sausages were a little more aggressive, there would be thousands of times more deaths.





What can I say, these snakes are too lazy to even move! Unlike most legless reptiles, Gaboon vipers do not wriggle, but walk like caterpillars!

In one bite, a large cassava produces up to 9.7 milliliters of poison! A lot of? Very! In terms of dry matter, 2400 milligrams of toxins are obtained. King cobras inject 1000 milligrams of venom per bite, while vipers only give 30 milligrams. The venom of Gaboon vipers acts primarily on the cardiovascular system and tissue cells at the site of the bite. The blood throughout the victim's body becomes too thin and stops clotting, leading to massive bleeding and death.



Fat but short snake. Causes some confusion, doesn't it?

If we count in humans, then 0.15 milliliters of poison is enough to kill an adult man. It turns out that one bite of cassava is enough to kill at least 64 people! Now do you understand how lucky we are that these reptiles are extremely peaceful?



Shake but do not mix.

The cases of serious harm to people can be counted on one hand. And the person himself can be blamed for each of them. Most likely, the bite was preceded by improper handling of the snake. What is the right way, you ask? It's simple: if you see a snake, take it and walk around it. Done, you're awesome!



Even in the hands, the Gaboon viper behaves very calmly!

Such a powerful poison allows cassava to spend a minimum of effort on obtaining food. The biting sausages just lie there and wait for someone to walk close enough. Thanks to their mass and strong poison, predators can kill a hare and even a small antelope. But due to their immense laziness, snakes mainly hunt small rodents. They bite their prey and do not let go until it gives up. Unlike other vipers, they are too lazy to pursue the bitten victim; it is easier to wait like this, with food in their teeth.



- Darling, doesn’t this suit make me look too fat? - No, dear, you’re literally invisible in it!

Snakes are also in no hurry to reproduce - the female bears offspring only once every 2-3 years. It all starts with the rainy season, when the male finds a suitable lady of tail and heart. If there is already a boyfriend next to her, a duel begins. Snake men hiss loudly, push and make feints, trying to pin their opponent's head to the ground. Sometimes this battle drags on for several days: the males fight, rest, and return to battle! The winner will mate with the lady and crawl off into the sunset; reptiles do not have long-term relationships and do not create a family.



We didn’t manage to lose weight by summer, but no one will notice it in the water!

Cassava pregnancy lasts about 7 months, and the litter ranges from 8 to 60 snakes, depending on the size and fatness of the mother. The cubs are born active and immediately become independent. Mothers are too lazy to look after themselves to see what the children are like!