Bitis caudalis
Size: 30-35cm (max 50cm). A small adder with a blotchy colouration, which exhibits regional variations. A dead giveaway
by the single horn above each eye.
Buried to the eyeballs in sand, the Horned Adder looks pretty harmless, but those horns are a giveaway for the devil inside of him.
His venom is mildly poisonous and will cause swelling, pain and necrosis if he bites, but no fatalities have been recorded and antivenom is not usually administered as treatment.
The Horned Adder feeds mainly on small lizards, although rodents and amphibians are also eaten, and these are caught by ambush. It is thought prey may be attracted into the snake's range by it waving the black tip of its tail.
Being active at dusk, it prefers to protect itself from the heat during the middle of the day. It will either lie in the shade of small scrub or will shuffle down into the sand.
The Horned Adder is common throughout the sandy regions of southern Africa: throughout Namibia, much of the northern Cape in South Africa and through the Kalahari desert across the south of Botswana. It may sidewind in loose sand but steers clear of mobile dunes.
Mating occurs in October-November and 4-15 young, measuring 100-150mm, are born in December-February, at the same time that the lizard's eggs are hatching. |
