One of the more intriguing snakes in the viper family is the puff adder.
“Arietans” translates to “striking violently”, so just the scientific name alone, Bitis arietans, tells you this is not a snake you want to mess with. In fact, they strike so violently that I personally think they deserve the name “jumping pit viper” more so than the actual jumping pit viper itself!
Either way, they are a fascinating snake and I would love to tell you more about them.
Where Are Puff Adders From?
If you look at the map below, puff adders can be found in the southern portions of Mali, Niger, Chad and Sudan, and everywhere south of that to the bottom tip of Africa.
They are not found in Gabon or the majority of the DRC however.
Puff adders are one of the most widespread snakes in southern Africa, and can be found in every environment except desert areas, rain forests or high altitudes.
They prefer rocky grasslands, but are not afraid to be near heavily populated areas. This is one of the reasons why they are responsible for the most snake bite related deaths in Africa. More on that later though.
Why Are They Called Puff Adders?
All snakes have specific ways of attempting to defend themselves.
Rattlesnakes for example, have rattlers on the end of their tails to warn potential predators. King cobras have the widely recognizable hood, while snakes like the eastern hognose play dead to fool you.
Why is it called a puff adder? Puff adders have thick bodies, but are only around three to four feet long on average. This makes them look rather small and defenseless. To make up for that, they puff up their bodies by filling their lungs full of air and expanding their rib cage. They also hiss loudly and continuously, warning you to stay away.
Keep in mind, this is only when they feel threatened. As ambush predators, these snakes typically lie completely motionless and wait for food to come within striking range. They mostly rely on camouflage as their number one defense.
Puff Adders Are Vipers…But Not PIT Vipers
Even though they are in the viper family like rattlesnakes and bushmasters, puff adders are not considered pit vipers.
If you look closely at the picture below, you’ll notice they have eyes and nostrils, but no heat sensing pits.
This means they detect their prey through sight by seeing it as it moves. They can also sense their prey with their Jacobson’s organ, which is common of all snakes.
The Jacobson’s organ is located above the roof of the mouth. When you see a snake flicking its tongue, it is actually gathering air and water molecules on the forks. When it pulls its tongue back in its mouth, it places the forks against the organ which then tells the snake which direction the prey is and how close based on the strength of the scent.
Puff Adder Strike Speed
I eluded to this earlier, but I want to explain exactly what I mean.
A puff adder strike only takes around a 1/10 of a second. In that time, they can strike, bite, and return to a defensive position. That is only 100 milliseconds!
Compare that to the 1/5 of a second, or 200 milliseconds, that it takes you to blink your eyes and you can see (pun intended) this snake strikes fast!
There’s a myth that this snake can strike backwards.
The puff adder can obviously strike forward, and it can even strike to either side. It can not however, strike backwards. It has to re-position its body in order to bite something behind it. This happens so quickly though, that many people believe this myth.
Puff Adder Strike Force
The other thing about the puff adder bite is the force of the strike. In order to strike so quickly, they have to put a lot of force into it.
For juveniles, this means they can actually launch their bodies forward up to several inches when they strike. Even adults can manage to move forward an inch or two.
In addition to this, the puff adder can strike nearly half its body length. Most snakes average around a third of their overall length. This is just another example of how impressive this snake is.
Puff Adders Can Be More Dangerous To Handle Than Other Venomous Snakes.
Obviously there is a risk to handling any venomous snake, but the puff adder poses an extra danger for professionals trying to milk it.
Milking a snake requires you to basically pinch its head between your fingers right at the neck and base of the jaws. Puff adders just happen to have pretty loose skin in this area, making it tougher than usual to get a solid grip.
The loose skin can allow it to move its head just enough to tag a handler with a fang if they are not careful. This snake’s venom is already powerful enough to make even experienced handlers sweat without the added threat!
Puff Adders Use Lures To Catch Prey!
Maybe you’ve heard of some animals like the anglerfish, which have a modified fin on their head dangling in front of their face to look like prey, so that when another fish tries to catch it, it gets eaten instead.
Lures are not a new thing for snakes.
Some wiggle the tips of their tail to draw in other animals hoping for an easy meal. A few water snakes have even been known to use their tongues to trick unsuspecting prey. The puff adder uses both of these.
Puff adders are the only snake (and even the only animal) in the world to do this!
One of their major food sources is frogs. They will often position themselves near bodies of water in search of food. They have been observed using their tongue and/or tail as bait, by wiggling and wagging in order to look like a worm.
A frog seeing this will come in nice and close for a tasty treat, only to be met with a deadly surprise as the adder strikes and kills its victim.
Puff Adders Have Yellow Venom
The venom of the puff adder is a psytotoxic venom which attacks the blood and tissues.
This nasty chemical concoction breaks down tissue and cells causing necrosis.
It is a slow acting toxin, which is fortunate because it is considered one of the deadliest venoms in the viper family.
I wrote more about this in an article titled Are Puff Adders Dangerous.
Puff Adders Kill More People In Africa Than Any Other Snake
There are over 30,000 snakebite related deaths in Africa each year.
Over half of these might be attributed to the puff adder.
Besides being one of the most toxic snakes in the world, it is also one of the most widespread snakes on the continent.
Add to that the fact that it enjoys being near heavily populated areas where there are also a high number of rodents, and you have a ripe location for bad accidents to happen.
Each Puff Adder Has A Different Color Pattern
Color patterns for the puff adder are mostly determined by locality.
In some areas you might find specimens that are mostly brown, while on other places they might be more orange or yellow.
The point is, it takes more than color and band pattern to distinguish a puff adder.
Puff Adders Give Birth To Live Young…Kind Of
There are three ways that snakes have babies.
- Oviparous – Means the snake lays eggs. Most snakes actually fall into this category.
- Viviparous – Means the snake gives birth to live young. This is the rarest category.
- Ovoviviparous – Means the snake has eggs, but they hatch in the womb.
Puff adders are ovoviviparous.
The eggs both develop and hatch inside of the womb. To an outside observer, this would give the appearance of giving birth to live young.
Puff Adders Excel At Camouflage
You would obviously expect an ambush predator such as the puff adder to be good at hiding, but these guys take it to a whole new level.
Puff adders can stay in the same spot for up to a couple of weeks, waiting for prey to come by.
This may not be too surprising, as many snake species are able to do this.
Puff adders do more than just hide and blend in though. They are also scentless in order to not give their location away to prey.
A study was once performed where both a dog and a meerkat both failed to detect a puff adder.
That is serious camouflage!
Summary
As I said in the beginning. Puff adders are truly fascinating snakes.
If you ever get the opportunity to see one, take a moment to stop and marvel. Think of these puff adder facts, and appreciate all that this snake has to offer.