A spectacularly patterned West and Central African viper with two or three horns at the tip of the snout.
Description
The rhinoceros viper is a heavy-bodied snake usually under 1.2 m, with a back patterned in jewel-bright tones of red, blue, yellow, green, and black arranged in geometric shapes. The snout bears a cluster of two or three upright horn-like scales, giving the species its common name.
Behavior
A slow-moving ambush hunter of swampy rainforest floors and stream margins, the rhinoceros viper takes a wide range of small mammals and amphibians. Its venom is hemotoxic and the bite is dangerous, though encounters with people are rare in its remote forest habitat.
Range
Distributed through the rainforests of West and Central Africa from Sierra Leone east to western Kenya. It is more rarely encountered than its closest relative the Gaboon viper because of its preference for wetter, more pristine habitat.