The venom of the bushmaster, and all other vipers, is a complex cocktail of toxic compounds. Its primary function, like the venom from the other main group of poisonous snakes, the cobras and allies, is to immobilize prey. Cobra venom is termed a neurotoxin, and achieves this effect by arresting the central nervous system function of its prey. Viper venom, termed a hemotoxin, achieves the same result by disrupting the circulation system, among other things. But viper venom has another trick up its sleeve.
All snakes eat relatively large prey, whole.
Most snakes solve this problem by possessing powerful digestive systems. This digestive quality of viper venom causes rapid tissue damage, however, and makes bites from these snakes particularly nasty. Recovery from a cobra bite will leave little or no visible evidence of the incident. Drop for drop, the venom of the bushmaster is not as potent as many other venomous snakes, but it is the shear volume of venom and the depth to which its long fangs can inject it, that makes this pit viper so potentially dangerous. The bushmaster ranges from Nicaragua through the rest of Central America into Colombia and Ecuador in the west, and into Brazil in central and eastern South America.