Gaboon Viper

🤯 Fun Facts

• The Longest Fangs of Any SnakeA Gaboon viper's fangs reach around five centimeters, longer than any other snake's, folded back against the roof of the mouth until the strike swings them forward. It also delivers more venom per bite than almost anything else, a function of simply being a very large-headed, heavy-bodied snake. The venom is not the most potent by weight. The dose is what makes it serious.
• It Bites and Holds OnMost vipers strike, inject and let go, then track the animal down once the venom has worked. The Gaboon viper often does not let go. It bites and keeps hold, which for an ambush predator on a forest floor means prey is less likely to stagger off somewhere it cannot follow. The same behavior is what makes a bite on a person so much worse than the fang length alone suggests.
• It Moves in a Straight LineA Gaboon viper is heavy enough that the side-to-side motion most snakes use works badly for it, so it travels in a straight line instead, driving itself forward with the belly scales in slow waves. The effect is closer to a caterpillar than a snake. It is unhurried and almost silent, which suits an animal whose entire strategy is to be somewhere prey does not expect and to have been there for a long time already.