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Class - Reptiles

Squad - Scaly

Family - Viper snakes

Genus/Species - Vipera berus. Common viper

Basic data:

DIMENSIONS

Length: females - up to 80 cm, males - up to 60 cm, newborn cubs - 16 cm.

REPRODUCTION

Puberty: from 3-4 years old.

Mating season: April May.

Number of cubs: 5-20.

LIFE STYLE

Habits: common vipers (see photo) with the exception of winter and mating season stay alone.

What it eats: small rodents, lizards, frogs and chicks.

RELATED SPECIES

The following species of viper snakes live in Europe: steppe viper V. ursini, aspis viper V. aspis, snub-nosed viper V. latasti, Armenian viper V. xanthina, viper V. lebentina and long-nosed viper V. ammodytes.

The common viper belongs to the family of viper snakes and inhabits most Europe. She easily adapts to different conditions. The viper lives in sand dunes and mountainous areas, on hills and in forests. It can also survive in humid and cold climates.

WHAT DOES IT EAT?

The common viper spends its entire life in a fairly small area. She knows her own area very well and can easily find prey there. Near bodies of water, the viper catches frogs, lizards and water rats. However, its main prey are mice, shrews and other small rodents. Using a sensitive sense of smell and reacting to air vibrations, the snake searches for prey on the ground. She also hunts birds whose nests are located on the ground. When a victim approaches a distance convenient for attack, the viper attacks with lightning speed and injects poison into it. Often the victim manages to escape, but the snake catches up with him, since after a few minutes the poison begins to take effect.

The viper swallows its prey whole, starting from the head. Vipers also prey on lizards, among which most often the viviparous and spindle. Young individuals feed on insects.

LIFESTYLE

The viper's lifestyle depends on the time of year. In spring and autumn, the reptile enjoys basking in the sun, and in summer it remains in the shade from morning to evening. Prefers wooded areas, mainly mixed forests. In the mountains, the viper also inhabits the bushes of coniferous trees.

The viper is a nocturnal animal. During the day, she rests in various shelters. High in the mountains it often hunts during the day. The common viper is not very dangerous; it attacks only if a person steps on it or carelessly grabs it with his hand. At the beginning of winter, snakes hibernate. They spend the winter under stones, rock ledges or in burrows small mammals. When the air temperature drops, the snake burrows even deeper to shelter from the cold. Often several snakes share one shelter together.

REPRODUCTION

During the mating season, males seek the favor of females and start fights for the right to mate. Two males stand opposite each other, raising the front part of their body, then circle around and kick until one of them manages to pin the opponent to the ground. The winner tries to interest the female and attract her attention. Fertilized eggs, surrounded by a leathery membrane, develop in the female’s body for about 3 months. Shortly before birth, the cubs gnaw through the membrane of the egg while still in the mother's body. Newborn vipers, numbering 5-20 individuals, look like miniature copies of their parents, their length is 9-16 cm. The mass birth of vipers occurs in August.

From the first minute of birth they are completely independent, and yet they remain with their mother for several months. The cubs feed on worms and insects. In the northern and central parts females give birth to offspring every other year. By winter, young vipers, together with adult individuals, hide in rotten stumps or under tree roots.

VIPER WATCHING

Vipers are found from March to October. In spring and autumn you can watch them sunbathing. In areas where vipers are found, warning signs were previously posted stating that snakes should never be handled. A viper bite causes death only in exceptional cases, but always causes vomiting and diarrhea. Young children and people whose bodies are weakened are at greatest risk if they are bitten. Particularly dangerous is a bite to the head and blood vessels located close to the surface of the skin. The common viper is peaceful and non-aggressive. Seeing that she is being watched, she always rushes to hide or, hiding, lies calmly.

GENERAL PROVISIONS. DESCRIPTION

The viper is a medium-sized snake, length - 60-80 cm. It lives in forests among dense thickets. Hunts at night, sleeps in a hiding place during the day or basks in a quiet place. For the winter it hides in rodent burrows, under stumps and snags. It feeds on small rodents and frogs. Young vipers are born at the end of summer - 5-14 (sometimes 18) each, 10-15 cm long. Babies and adult snakes have poisonous teeth, their bite is dangerous (sometimes there are even deaths). But the viper never attacks a person without a reason; on the contrary, it avoids meeting him as best it can. Incidents of bites occur solely due to human negligence. Therefore, you should not walk barefoot in the forest; when looking for mushrooms, you should stir forest floor with a stick - then there will be no trouble from these reptiles. Snakes are useful because they kill many rodents; their venom is used in medicine. Dried viper venom retains its quality for at least 25 years.

• The viper can inflate its chest. So, basking in the sun, it increases the surface of its body.
• Vipers find a place for wintering among the roots of trees. They use the same shelters year after year.
• In the north, the winter shelter of the viper is underground at a depth of up to 2 m.

CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF A VIPER

Cubs: 5-20 cubs are born, covered thin skin which they soon lose.

Female: slightly larger than the male, the stripe on its brown body is slightly lighter.

Eyes: the vertical pupil detects any horizontal movement.

Male: a dark zigzag stripe is visible on its gray, brown or red-brown body.

Ears: the inner ear and eardrum are missing. Snakes are deaf and only detect air vibrations.

- Habitat of the common viper

WHERE DOES IT LIVE?

These snakes are not found in Iceland, Ireland and most of Southern Europe. Distributed throughout the Central and Northern Europe up to the Arctic and the Far East.

PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION

Due to the reduction of natural habitats, the common viper is facing extinction. The hedgehog is hers natural enemy, it is insensitive to viper venom.

The snake is poisonous. Common viper, snake's reaction to movement. Full HD 1080p. Video (00:01:16)

When attacked, the snake curls up and pulls its neck into the middle of the resulting flat circle, so that with each bite it quickly extends it by 15, at most 30 cm. Retraction of the neck is always a sign that the viper wants to bite; immediately after the bite, it quickly retracts its neck again , preparing for the next attack. When a viper gets angry, it puffs up so much that even the thinnest one seems fat. When attacking, the viper focuses primarily on lightning speed, rather than accuracy. When attacking, she often misses, but immediately makes the next attempt until she achieves her goal. You have to be careful, as the viper never attacks silently.

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The viper snake is poisonous. The viper is distinguished by a zigzag pattern on its back. The viper loves to bask in the sun. Viper dangerous snake. Stay away from vipers.

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I will catch a viper and tell you many interesting facts about it

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What is the difference between a snake and a viper? What is the difference between a viper and a snake? How to distinguish a snake from a viper, the difference between a viper and a snake. How not to confuse a snake with a viper, a viper bite can help. It's a viper of differences and similarities. Viper and UZH Similarities and differences. WHAT TO DO IF A POISONOUS SNAKE BITE. WHAT HAPPENS IF A SNAKE BITES
The best prevention against a bite is the absence of contact with the viper, so you should not find out whether the snake is poisonous or not, first of all you need to distance yourself.
The viper's eyes see poorly and dimly no further than two meters. Despite the fact that the snake is deaf, it perfectly feels the vibrations of the soil with its whole body, thereby feeling the approach of a person.
Snakes love secluded places like moss, stumps, etc. Even the viper is not aggressive, and attacks only when they sense danger; in most cases, they are ready to escape from the conflict. Snakes are cold-blooded, Sun rays are an important part of their digestion, pay attention to this to avoid an unwanted encounter when they bask in an open area.

Common viper. Video (00:01:09)

The common viper (Vipera berus) is a snake of the viper family (Viperidae). Body length can reach 70 cm. In addition to Russia, it is distributed throughout almost all of Europe and North-Eastern China. It lives in swamps, forest clearings, and along river banks. Overwinters in underground burrows. It feeds mainly on mouse-like rodents and frogs, and young snakes on insects. It is poisonous, but fatalities are extremely rare.

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Vipers. Video (00:21:13)

Children's popular science film about vipers from the series \

The common viper is the most common snake, the viper is both simple and difficult to recognize. This contradiction is associated with the variety of colors various forms and subspecies of a given snake with its wide population.

1. the head is large and flattened;
2. the viper snake has a “vicious” appearance due to the combination of shields over the eyes and a vertical pupil with wide nostrils;
3. has a cervical interception;
4. zigzag black pattern on the back.

In black vipers the pattern is practically invisible. In one of the subspecies (which from the second year of life becomes completely black, except for possible spots near the mouth), it disappears after 2-3 moults. Juveniles are motley.

The background color of a viper snake can completely confuse an inexperienced naturalist: the body can be gray, yellow, orange, brick, blue, green, brown with purple and other rarer shades. There are specimens in which halves of the body are painted in different colors.

Clarification of one of the main diagnostic signs of the viper (the number of scutes and their location on the head) requires a detailed examination of the discovered animal. Even here there is variability - the viper may have 4 scutes instead of 3, and the outline of the frontal scute deviates from the rectangle in some populations.

The average length of a viper is 60 cm, but it increases from south to north and when approaching the Arctic Circle it can reach a meter. Snakes measuring 1 meter in size have been repeatedly found on the Scandinavian Peninsula and northern Russia. In most cases, vipers exceed males in length and weight, which can vary from 50 to 180 g.

The common viper is one of the relatively young species of reptiles, widely distributed in Eurasia and one of the ten most frost-resistant. The viper snake is distributed unevenly across the continent, which is partly due to the variability of colors.

The northern border of the viper's habitat is located near the Arctic Circle, the western border is off the coast Atlantic Ocean, the southeastern one passes through the Korean Peninsula, Mongolia and the Xinjiang Uyghur region of the People's Republic of China. The places where the reptile lives must be moist, which is required to ensure the survival of the offspring.

The viper lives on average up to 7 years, preferring mixed forests regardless of their height (individuals were found in the mountains at around 2.8 km). All subspecies are sedentary and do not like to move more than 100 m from their site. During wintering, which lasts for middle lane from mid-October to April, they can migrate up to 5 km.

Viper snake aggressiveness varies depending on the season: the greater the aridity, the more dangerous the viper becomes. Everyone who has met it in the swamps knows whether the viper swims: here it hunts local amphibians, not being inferior to them in agility in the water.

On land, the viper snake's food source is small rodents of any kind. Snakes avoid open places, since here their main natural enemies among birds (eagles and eagles) can easily catch them. In the forest, hedgehogs, ferrets, foxes and owls pose a danger to her. But the main reason for the decline in numbers is economic activity person.

The debate about whether the common viper is viviparous or not ended soon after the identification of the species in favor of supporters of viviparity.

Reproduction is characterized by 2-4 year cycles. Studies of the genotypes of newborn individuals have shown that with the same mother they can have different fathers, and 30% of females have fatty eggs that do not bear offspring.

In the CIS countries, the viper snake has earned fame, largely undeservedly, as a threat to tourists and mushroom pickers. The question about whether a viper snake is poisonous or not can be answered in the affirmative, but the benefits of exterminating rodents significantly outweigh the potential damage.

Viper venom includes a mixture enzyme proteins, leading to the breakdown of blood components, its coagulation and thrombus formation. Components that affect nervous system, are in too low a concentration to cause serious damage.

The snake is poisonous, and to neutralize the viper’s venom it is best to use a special antidote, which experienced tourists try to carry it with them. Recognizing the bite of a person stung by a viper in a dream is often possible not due to small wounds, but due to swelling of the affected area. The person usually feels pain and dizziness, their body temperature drops, and their heart rate increases. Under no circumstances should you cut and cauterize the wound or apply a tourniquet, because this will only make the condition worse.

1. Laying a person on his side.
2. If a viper snake bites a limb, apply a splint.
3. Drinking plenty of fluids (except alcohol and drinks increasing blood pressure).
4. Calling an ambulance or rescuers with subsequent delivery to the nearest medical center.

• According to the results genetic research 1999-2005 it was found that the common viper formed later than modern humans.
• A viper bite is more dangerous for humans in the spring due to changes in the concentration of venom components.
• The lifespan of vipers is inversely proportional to the frequency of mating and can reach 30 years in northern populations.

There are not so many dangerous and poisonous animals in Russia. However, they exist and among them is the common viper. It’s better to look at the photo of the poisonous beauty to know what she looks like. And this is necessary in order to be able to distinguish it from the harmless snake, with which it is very similar.

Who hasn't heard about the existence of viper snakes? For some they are interesting, for others they are afraid. It is not difficult to find out that the viper is a reptile of the Viper family and the genus True vipers, belonging to the order Scaly. But what kind of snake is this? What features does it have?

The common viper is one of the few poisonous snakes living in the European part of Eurasia

Appearance of a viper

Compared to its relatives, the viper looks like a small snake: indeed, on average this type of snake grows no more than seventy centimeters. The largest vipers are on the Scandinavian Peninsula - there their length reaches a meter. By the way, female vipers are often larger than males.

The viper's head is quite large and flat. A special part of the body called the cervical interception separates the head from the long body of the viper. This snake's pupils are vertical, and its body has many shields and scales, giving the viper a truly terrifying appearance.

In the world you can find black, brown, brownish or gray snakes with a zigzag pattern. But not all vipers have stripes on their backs. In some areas you can see melanistic vipers - snakes with a body completely black.

Viper habitat

The main danger of the viper is that it is quite possible to meet it in mixed forest or near the river. In Russia, the viper lives in the European part, and in Siberia, and in the Far East. This snake even lives in the mountains, at an altitude of about three kilometers above sea level.

Vipers are distributed quite unevenly across habitats: in some areas their number reaches one hundred individuals per hectare! True, this happens extremely rarely. In May, vipers wake up from hibernation and crawl out of their winter hiding places. That's when you can suffer from their bites.

I wonder what the viper eats?

It is obvious that the viper uses venom to kill prey. Who can she kill? Small rodents, or rather, voles and spindles. Vipers, being reptiles, essentially eat their relatives - small lizards and. Small chicks of warblers and buntings that have fallen from the nest are common prey for this type of snake.
Young vipers feed differently. It’s difficult to call their prey and prey - these are small bugs, caterpillars, ants. However, snakes that have not yet grown up are quite capable of eating even small insects.

Viper breeding

In May, when vipers have just woken up from their winter sleep, their breeding season begins. Viper is viviparous snake, which is rare: in August-September, the cubs hatched in the womb are born. More than ten small (about fifteen centimeters in length) vipers usually hatch. It is interesting that sometimes a viper during childbirth wraps itself around a tree trunk, so that the tail with the future snakes dangles in the air and the children fall to the ground. By the way, the cubs immediately molt and become independent (and already poisonous!). So you shouldn’t think that small vipers are safe for human health and life.

Features of the viper

A characteristic feature of vipers is a zigzag pattern on the back of a lighter (or contrasting) color. However, sometimes vipers do not have this distinctive pattern. This may be when the snake has melanism - the coloration of the entire body is black. In this case, the viper can be confused with some other snake.

But it’s difficult to confuse a viper with a grass snake: the latter will be “given away” by its absence yellow stripes on the head and short body length (snakes can grow up to two meters, unlike the viper).

Enemies of the viper in nature

Despite the fact that the viper is poisonous and crawls quite quickly, and it has natural enemies that it cannot cope with. These include, etc. Oddly enough, viper venom, which affects humans, has virtually no effect on these animals.

The viper has others dangerous enemies. These are birds. They are able to “attack” the viper from the air. The most dangerous birds for this type of snakes - snake-eating eagles, as well as owls and storks.

Viper - benefit or harm to humans?

Everyone knows that the viper is a very dangerous snake because it is poisonous. But not everyone knows that a viper will never bite just like that: it always defends itself and does not attack, acting on the principle “ Best protection“This is an attack.” In fact, a viper bite rarely leads to fatal outcome, and the consequences of the bite - a small swelling and painful sensations - disappear on their own after a few days. However, you should not neglect safety rules.

Description

The common viper is usually medium in size - males reach 60 cm, females 70 cm. In the north of the range, rare specimens reach 1 meter in length. The head is separated from the body by a short neck, the muzzle is on top, in front of the line connecting the front edges of the eyes, has 3 large shields (one in the middle and two on the sides), as well as a number of smaller ones. The pupil is vertical. The muzzle is rounded at the end. The nasal opening is cut in the middle of the nasal shield. Coloration varies greatly from gray and bluish to coppery red and black, with a characteristic zigzag pattern on the back along the ridge. In the latter case, the pattern is practically indistinguishable.

Spreading

The range of the common viper includes Europe (Great Britain, Scandinavian countries, France, Italy, Albania, Bulgaria, northern Greece, Switzerland, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia - the middle and northern regions of the European part) and Asia (Russia - Siberia, the Far East to Sakhalin inclusive; North Korea and northern China). This is the only snake found far north (up to 68° northern latitude) due to its low sensitivity to low temperatures.

Lifestyle

The common viper lives on average 11-12 years. It quickly adapts to any terrain and can live at altitudes up to 3000 meters above sea level. The distribution is uneven depending on the availability of suitable wintering sites. The saddle, as a rule, does not move further than 50-100 meters. The exception is forced migration to a wintering place; in this case, snakes can move up to a distance of 5 km. Wintering usually occurs from October-November to March-April (depending on the climate), for which it chooses a depression in the ground (burrows, crevices, etc.) at a depth of up to 2 meters, where the temperature does not drop below +2... +4 °C. If there is a shortage of such places, several hundred individuals may accumulate in one place, and in the spring they crawl to the surface, which creates the impression of great crowding. Subsequently, the snakes crawl away.

IN summer time often basks in the sun, the rest of the time it hides under old stumps, in crevices, etc. The snake is non-aggressive, and when a person approaches, it tries to use its camouflage coloring as much as possible, or to move away. Only in case of unexpected appearance of a person or in case of provocation on his part can she try to bite him. This cautious behavior is explained by the fact that it requires a lot of energy to reproduce venom in conditions of changing temperatures.

Reproduction

The mating season is in May, and the offspring appear in August or September, depending on the climate. The viper is viviparous - the eggs develop and the young hatch in the womb. Usually up to 8-12 young individuals appear, depending on the length of the female. It happens that during childbirth, the female wraps herself around a tree or stump, leaving her tail hanging, “scattering” baby snakes onto the ground, which from the first moment begin independent life. Juveniles are usually 15-20 cm long and are already poisonous. Many people believe that only born individuals are more poisonous, but this is not true. It is also not true that young individuals are more aggressive. Just after being born, snakes usually moult. Subsequently, molting of young and adults occurs 1 - 2 times a month. Before their first hibernation in October-November, they never eat, since before hibernation they must digest all the food they eat in order to avoid problems with metabolism.

I

The common viper is deadly poisonous, and its venom is similar to that of rattlesnakes. However, it produces a much smaller amount of poison compared to the latter, and for this reason is considered less dangerous. The bite is rarely fatal. However, a person who is bitten should seek medical attention immediately.

The venom contains high molecular weight proteases with hemorrhagic, hemocoagulating and necrotizing effects and low molecular weight neurotropic cytotoxins. As a result of the bite, hemorrhagic edema, necrosis and hemorrhagic penetration of tissues in the area of ​​​​injection of the poison occur, accompanied by dizziness, lethargy, headache, nausea, and shortness of breath. Subsequently, progressive shock of complex origin, acute anemia, intravascular coagulation, and increased capillary permeability develop. In severe cases, degenerative changes occur in the liver and kidneys.

In spring, viper venom is more toxic than in summer.

Enemies in nature

The main enemies of the viper in nature are storks, herons, kites, eagles and owls. On the ground are hedgehogs, wild boars, or large rodents. Also, snakes often die under the hooves of cattle in pastures or at the hands of humans, including under the wheels of vehicles.

Notes

Literature

• “Amphibians and reptiles of the USSR”, A. G. Bannikov, I. S. Darevsky, A. K. Rustamov, ed. "Thought", 1971

Links

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