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Horned Adder - Bitis caudalis
The Horned Adder is distinguished by
the presence if a single hornlike scale above each eye. The triangular
head is distinct from the body which ends in a short thin tail. For males
the maximum recorded head-body length is 372 mm and 548 mm for females.
The dorsal scales are strongly keeled. The basic colour varies from pale
grey, light reddish, greyish to dark brown and tends to match the regional
substrate. A dark mark on the head may vary from a V- to an hourglass-shape.
The tail tip may be black, while the underside of the body is cream to
yellowish white. Becoming active at dusk, it tends to lie in ambush at
the base of shrubs, tufts of grass or bushes, may shuffle into sand until
only the top of the head and the tail are visible. Feeds on rodents, lizards
and occasionally on sand frogs, often with strong regional or individual
preferences for either warm or cold blooded prey items.
The Horned Adder prefers rocky mountain ridges. A regionally common resident
of the dryer western areas, ranging from the Atlantic coast through Namibia,
southern Botswana into southern Zimbabwe, the North West Province to Gauteng
in South Africa, the Northern Cape and south into the little Karoo. The
viper avoids the wind-blown dunes of the Namib but otherwise inhabits
arid to dry sandy savannah.
Mating takes place in spring to early summer
and 4 to 15 (max.27) young, with a total length of 100 to 150 mm, are
born in between December and February. Although the poison is remarkably
effective and quick acting on rodents, its effect on humans is mild, causing
a local swelling and sometimes some necrosis at the bite site.
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