The largest viper in the Americas, a long-fanged neotropical pit viper feared in rainforest villages from Nicaragua to Brazil.
Description
The bushmaster is a massively built pit viper with a tan or yellow-brown body marked by a row of large dark diamond saddles, ending in a hard, horny spike at the tail tip. Adults regularly exceed 2 m and rarely reach 3.7 m, making this the longest viper in the world.
Behavior
A nocturnal, slow-moving ambush hunter, the bushmaster lies coiled beside rodent runs for days at a time. Its fangs are exceptionally long — up to 4 cm — and it injects enormous volumes of hemotoxic venom in a single strike. Bites are rare but very dangerous.
Range
Restricted to undisturbed lowland rainforest across Central and northern South America, including the Amazon and Atlantic forests of Brazil. Loss of primary forest and slow reproduction make the species more vulnerable than its formidable reputation suggests.