Puff Adder

The **Puff Adder** (*Bitis arietans*) is a **venomous viper snake species** found in African savannah and grasslands. The species is probably the most common and widespread snake in the continent.

When disturbed the snake will coil into a defensive S-shaped posture and hiss loudly, hence its common name "Puff adder". This is used as warning signal, it's best not to ignore it, you really don't want to find out why. It can be found in most of sub-Saharan Africa from Morocco and western Arabia up to the Cape of Good Hope. The exceptions are the Sahara desert, rain forest regions and tropical alpine habitats.

It's considered responsible for the majority of snakebite fatalities in Africa, more than any other African snake, including the **Black Mamba**. This is due to several factors, such as its wide habitat distribution and their frequent occurrence in highly populated regions. The statistics are slightly misleading and don't indicate the potency of the species venom itself. Although the puff adder is often classified as the most dangerous snake in Africa﻿, it isn't the deadliest or the **most venomous snake in Africa**.  Puff Adder venom ﻿﻿ is cytotoxic, it destroys tissue.

## Species

There are 2 subspecies are currently recognized, the puff adder (*Bitis arietans arietans*) and the Somali puff adder (*Bitis arietans somalica*) found only in Somalia and northern Kenya. This **snake species** is also commonly known as African puff adder or common puff adder.

The species color pattern varies geographically, varying from yellow, light brown, orange or reddish brown, overlaid with a pattern of dark brown to black chevron-shaped or U-shaped bands. The belly is white or yellow, with some scattered dark spots. In the head they have 2 very distinct dark bands, one located on the crown and the other between the eyes.They use their natural cryptic coloration and patterns camouflage for hunting, and for defensive purposes as they are preyed upon by warthogs, honey badgers and **other snakes**. This is a robust, thick and heavily built snake species. The puff adder average size is about 40 inches (1 meter) in total length but larger specimens up to 75 inches (190 cm) and weighing over 13.2 lbs (6.0 kg) with a girth of 16 inches (40 cm) have been reported.

## Diet and Feeding

They mostly nocturnal, they rarely hunt actively, instead these snakes prefer to ambush their prey as it passes by. Their diet includes mammals, birds, amphibians, and lizards. Although these are somewhat slow-moving snakes, they are highly aggressive and can make incredibly fast biting attacks they are one of the fastest striking snakes in the world. Surpassed only by the australian death adder.

It can strike within 0.25 of a second both forward and to the side. They seldom grip their prey, instead, once bitten the prey is released as the venom is injected and later tracked by smell.

## Reproduction

The Puff adder is an **ovoviviparous snake species** meaning that the young develop within an egg that hatches inside the female's body. The mating season usually occurs in spring when the female snake produces a pheromone used to attract the males, that will engage each other in neck to neck wrestling combat dances. A female can be followed by several males.

They give birth to large number of offspring, 20 to 60 is usual, but litters of over 80 young have been reported, the newborns are between 12.5cm and 17.5 cm in length. The gestation period is between 7 to 9 months although it can reach a period over 12 months. The larger specimens, namely those from **East Africa**, will give birth to the highest numbers of offspring. A Kenyan female puff adder in a Czech zoo gave birth to 156 young, the largest recorded litter for any snake species.

## Conservation / Threats

The species conservation status by IUCN Red List is not evaluated, they are not listed on CITES. With the puff adder being probably the most common and widespread snake species in the African continent, their future conservation is not a problem.