Rhinoceros Viper

• GeneralIts skin, patterned in geometric blues and greens, makes it invisible in the leaf litter.
• It is probably the most colourful snake in Africa: a mosaic of purple, blue, green, red and yellow that, against the damp leaf litter of the forest floor, works as perfect camouflage despite looking impossible in the hand.
• The horns on the snout are modified scales and their function is still unclear, although it has been suggested that they break up the outline of the head.
• It is a patient ambusher: it can stay motionless in the same spot for weeks waiting for a rodent to pass, and strikes with extraordinary speed for such a heavy snake.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (reptile)

Habitat and environment

Rainforest, swamp forest and waterlogged ground of Central and West Africa

Sexual maturity

3 years

Gestation / incubation

7 months of gestation

Litter / clutch size

20 live young

Sources consulted: Wikipedia (en): Bitis nasicornis

The pins mark the parks where its presence is documented.