Gaboon viper: the real story of a scientist's bite and his brave response to a threat to life (5 photos)

If you are walking through the beautiful forests of Gabon (Central Africa), stepping softly on fallen leaves, I advise you to watch your step very carefully, or better yet, to rustle in front of you with a long stick, so as not to accidentally run into a deceptively motionless gray-beige-black ticket to a sanatorium where Alexander the Great, Jimi Hendrix and Aristotle are already vacationing.





Record-sized poison glands make the snake's head wide.



A very satisfied reptilian look.

The Gaboon viper/cassava (Bitis gabonica) is a phlegmatic, but terribly dangerous owner of poisonous teeth of record length! Five-centimeter needles are ready to inject 10 mg (a huge dose) of deadly poison into anyone who is stupid enough to take and cuddle the cute fat girl. A huge triangular head with giant poison glands is crowned with funny "horns" on the nose and hides a mechanism similar to a folding knife: very long teeth are attached to the upper palate by muscles that allow you to easily transfer the weapon to an inactive state. Yes, it looks rather awkward with its 110-120 cm in length and a whole 13 cm in diameter, but do not be deceived by its appearance and unshakable calm - this viper is not inferior in the speed of the dash of the fastest representatives of the snake world.





The Gaboon viper is a short, but very thick snake. This makes it unique among other reptiles.



The very same teeth that extend and fold like a camp knife.

And her calmness is actually very deceptive. Any employee of the Tula Exotarium (where the author of the article works) knows the terrible story that happened to its previous director, the famous herpetologist Sergei Ryabov. Knowing about the peaceful nature of the cassava, he decided to clean her terrarium without observing standard safety precautions. The protective equipment was lying far away, the working day was already over, so the last cleaning - and home. However, the peak of Gaboon viper activity occurs precisely in the evening and at night... A lightning-fast bite to the finger made the experienced herpetologist realize: every minute counted, the ambulance would not arrive so quickly, and there was no antidote available at that moment. The director was saved by a zoo workshop employee passing by with an axe in his hand. "Chop," came the calm order. The finger was cut off very cleanly, quickly and carefully - the poison did not have time to spread further. Everything ended well thanks to an instant analysis of the situation and a steady hand with an axe.



Here Sergey Ryabov talks about that very incident, actively gesturing with his injured hand.

So many years of experience, knowledge and courage saved a life, because the venom of the Gaboon viper causes very rapid cardiac arrest if it is allowed to spread for at least half an hour.