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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