The following articles deal with snake pictures, so please read them with caution to avoid discomfort
Huge skeletal structure
The Gabonese viper, the heaviest venomous snake on the African continent and the most venomous snake in the world, is impressive in size and brilliant in color. On the African continent, only the black mamba snake with a body length of more than 3 meters is more common, and even the largest forest cobra in the African cobra genus is rare. The black mamba snake belongs to the relatively slender snake, the adult body length of the Gabonese viper is generally 1.5 meters, more than 2 meters belongs to a very small minority, compared with its weight, the weight of the black snake is much lighter.
Such a giant Gabonese viper is a veritable "fat house snake". The extremely large triangular head and neck ratio is unique in the viper world. They are mainly distributed in forest habitats in tropical and subtropical regions of central and southern Africa. Vipers are masters of ambush and predation, using the cheek socket near their noses to sense any slight source of heat changes in their surroundings, which is an important reason why they can also prey on dark nights.
The head and fangs of the Gabonese viper
As a top predator, does the Gabonese viper have a natural enemy in the wild? As we all know, there are not only many snakes on the African continent, but also many poisonous snakes, and there are also many natural enemies of them. Not to mention the various birds of prey flying in the sky, the honey badgers and snake badgers on the savanna, all kinds of monitor lizards, and of course, all kinds of cobras with their own snake-eating attributes, are all natural enemies of snakes. Compared with the cobra family, the viper snakes as the advanced evolution of the venomous snake world, in the same class, in addition to being suppressed by cobras, they are even suppressed by large snake snakes, which can be described as quite a bitter venomous snake.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="8" > potential predators</h1>
The main habitat of the Gabonese viper is a forest environment with a certain degree of closure and its surrounding areas, unlike other African cobras, which are almost all on the edge of the open savanna or bush, so there are not many opportunities for the Gabonese viper to encounter them. The only cobra distributed in forest habitats in Africa is the forest cobra, as one of the large real cobras on the African continent, and their distribution areas are also overlapping, adult forest cobras more than 2.5 meters in size, it is possible to attack the Gabonese viper with a body length of about 1.5 meters, for the forest cobra, not only to worry about the Gabonese viper's 5 cm long fangs, but also the terrifying amount of venom. However, there are no records of the confrontation between the two species, but anything is possible.
Love living on this hidden forest floor
In addition to cobras, one might say that the mongoose that tears the black mamba by hand. Mongoose is indeed a natural enemy of snakes, but not to mention the chances of these two species meeting in forest habitats, even if there is, it is not certain who will die. Although the Gabonese viper feeds mainly on rodents and birds, many studies have shown that they prefer to prey on smaller prey, such as antelopes and red-tailed monkeys, which even weigh up to their own weight. What's more, some studies have mentioned that the Recipe Menu of the Gabonese Viper has a badger: the thick-tailed mongoose, which, while not entirely illustrative, reflects the fact that the Gabonese Viper is good at preying on some of the prey in the snake kingdom that only pythons prey on.
Thick-tailed mongoose
Having said all this, it seems that the flat-headed brother honey badger has been missed. The honey badger's story is arguably known all over the world, and it is listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as "the world's most fearless animal". Many popular science videos have recorded that it preys on large pythons, hand-torn black snakes, various cobras, etc. are its spicy meals. Many people have watched the documentary of the flat-headed brother vs. drum belly sizzling viper, after being bitten, lying down for two hours, magically waking up, continuing to eat spicy strips, and the researchers were stunned at the time. Compared to the drum belly sizzling viper, as the big brother of the sizzling viper family, the Gabonese sizzling viper has longer poisonous fangs and more venom, perhaps if the flat-headed brother is bitten by the Gabon sizzling viper, it is not as simple as lying for two hours, of course, the venom toxicity of the drumbuck viper is stronger than that of the Gabonese viper. Therefore, the results are difficult to predict, and many people tend to choose flat-headed brothers. But it should be noted that these two species are also almost unlikely to meet on the African continent, and the flat-headed brother likes to hang out in the empty savanna and does not go into the densely wooded forest to find spicy strips to eat.
The Gabonese sizzling viper preys on small antelopes (it is the only one that can swallow such a large prey)
Overall, the Gabonese viper is a top predator, and there are not many natural predators in adulthood. The huge size of the body, the creation of their lazier than any other viper, compared to the male, the female is more lazy, from some scientific reports show that the male activist home area is five times the female, it is not difficult to understand, in the breeding period, males need a larger field of activists to find females, mating and breeding activities, which will also make the male Gabonese vipers more likely to be attacked by predators. Gabonese vipers are good at using the environment of the forest floor to disguise themselves, and they can even stay in one place for up to 3 months, which is unique in the snake world.
Because of the long-term static posture, they are also vulnerable to the trampling of some large animals, such as African elephants and large ungulates, which is also one of the factors that cause death outside of them. Of course, humans are also one of the reasons, even if the Gabonese viper inhabits forests far from human activities, the economic development of the past decade or so, a large number of primary forests have been destroyed, and the conflict between humans and them has been exacerbated.
Drum belly sizzling viper on the left, Gabonic viper on the right
Finally, what would happen if the Gabonese viper encountered the king cobra of the king of the vipers? The answer to this question is unresolved.