Vipers: Nature’s Most Dangerous Noodles

Viper's are the epitome of evolutionary warfare they have one of the most advanced venom injection systems in the world their bites are breathtakingly fast and if you're bitten by one you may only have hours to react hi I'm Daniel Defoe and you're watching Animalia logic Vipers are family of snakes found everywhere in the world except Oceania Antarctica and a few isolated islands they're characterized by their triangular heads giant fangs deadly venom shield scales and elliptical pupils first things first they're fangs they have one of the most sophisticated venom injection systems in the snake world their fangs fold back into their mouths when non-use sitting along the roof of their mouths allowing them to grow much longer than if they were fixed in place when they bite down the muscles around their venom glands squeeze the venom out of their hollow fangs their fangs are not only hinged and can fold down but can rotate independently of one another when they bite they can open their mouths 180 degrees and the ability to rotate their fangs within that space is highly advantageous when striking prey of varying sizes the gaboon viper has the longest measured fangs coming in at five centimetres long the gaboon viper is also the longest viper measuring up to two metres long and weighing up to eight kilos viper venom glands are located behind their eyes which is why they have such large distinctive triangular heads depending on the species viper venom can be quite different from other snakes Cobras and other elapids have venom that's full of neurotoxins that cause muscle contraction and paralysis their venom affects the diaphragm which can cause the victim to asphyxiate but many species of viper have venom that attacks the blood causing the blood to lose the ability to clot meaning wounds won't stop bleeding their venom will also cause pain swelling and in some cases necrosis the Russell's Viper is particularly deadly its venom initially causes mass clotting turning your blood into a jelly-like substance this blocks up your kidneys causing them to fail without your kidneys your blood begins to build up in toxicity eventually killing you in a study of russell's viper venom in asia 30% bit and have their kidneys fail and in another group that received treatment 14 of 45 patients still died but it gets worse because your body has to release so many anti clotting agents to counteract the increase of clotting agents caused by the venom afterwards your body can no longer clot meaning that any further cutter bite will bleed continuously this evolutionary arms race between Vipers and their prey has taken millions of years to perfect leaving you only hours to seek treatment if you're bitten Vipers also use their venom for digestion breaking down proteins before the snake even swallows their prey fibers found in warmer climates are deadlier than those found in colder climates and have more potent venom they don't always use their venom and will use a dry bite in self-defense only using venom when they absolutely need to as it takes a while to create Vipers are great at gauging the size of their attackers to determine how much venom they'll need to take them out of commission an adult male gaboon viper has enough venom to inject a lethal dose into 30 individual humans before running out since their venom takes longer to affect their prey than other snakes they'll follow their prey while they die this is called Prairie localization they track their dying prey by following the scent of their venom though that scent will also attract competing Vipers to the kill the Vipers are ambush hunters and spend most of their lives hiding and wait for prey many species of Viper are arboreal and hide up in the trees that's not frightening at all once the target is in range they can strike in a quarter of a second when hunting or defending they're incredibly dangerous but most of the time my brothers are very chill Viper's are very easy to tell apart from other snakes because of their scales most snakes are smooth but Vipers have keeled scales meaning they overlap with a leading edge giving them their distinct bumpy appearance keeled scales are less reflective than flat scales and allow them to blend in better to their environments but none are more amazing looking than the bush Viper endemic to sub-saharan Africa bush Vipers have highly keeled scales giving them that very sharp beautiful and artistic appearance the species is chromosomally polymorphic meaning they come in a lot of different colors but green is the most common they're amazingly beautiful coloration is used to warn potential predators of their deadly venom all of the Vipers found in the Americas are pit vipers deriving their name from the heat-sensing or again they have between their eyes which sort of gives them night vision it works like this when infrared radiation enters the organ via small holes in their faces the pit can detect the difference in temperature between moving prey and its surroundings The Sixth Sense generates somewhat of a thermal image which allows them to detect the warm bodies of prey at night and up to a meter away even when deprived of all of their other senses pit vipers have been proven able to find prey that is just point 2 degrees warmer than its surroundings one of the coolest types of pit viper is the rattlesnake these are only found in North America and are Canada's only venomous snakes if you ever come visit us up here in Georgian Bay watch out Joran rattlesnake territory they get their name from a rattle at the base of their tail that they use to warn predators to back off or suffer the consequences their rattle is made of modified scales that have become hollow interlocked segments they will shake that rattled 50 times a second and can sustain shaking for up to 3 hours when they're born the babies can't rattle and it takes two sheds to develop the hardened tip required for rattling of the ten most venomous snakes North America Niner Vipers and seven of which are rattlesnakes the other two are the cottonmouth and the copper head Vipers get their name from the Latin Vee para which means live birth this is because vipers give birth to live babies not eggs which is uncommon amongst other snakes interestingly enough species that live in colder climates will brew mate the reptilian equivalent of hibernating often they will brew mate in large groups of up to a thousand strong and what's called a viper den well that is delightful what animal should I check out next please let me know in the comments and be sure to subscribe for new episodes of Animal Logic every other week thanks for watching what animal should I talk about next yeah don't don't talk about it

Channel: Animalogic

Views: 5,654,096

Rating: 4.8736892 out of 5

Keywords: animals, animal, logic, education, show, animalogic, crazy, ugly, weird, gross, beautiful, interesting, facts, animalsfacts, about, information, info, school, research, learn, learning, fun, easy, smart, viper, snake, rattlesnake, bush, bush viper, vipera, poison, venom, venemous

Id: xW1uRTIQzvA

Length: 7min 28sec (448 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 08 2018