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EUROPEAN ADDERS FROWN
In internet discussions, I often notice a widespread issue - people can't tell a viper from other Czech snakes. I regularly receive photos in private messages asking me to identify a snake that friends have photographed behind their cottage or on a walk, and I even receive tips about mass occurrences of adders in places where it makes no sense at all. So let's take a quick look at the matter.
The common viper is a relatively small snake, rarely exceeding 60 cm in length. It inhabits moist, cooler environments, typically meadows or forest edges in mountain and submontane areas. So if you are one of those hikers who regularly see whole clumps of "vipers" on arid, rocky hillsides above a river, please study what the smooth snake and the dice snake look like. It is these two snake species that people most often confuse the viper with :-)
I admit that the appearance of our snakes can be a bit confusing at times. Vipers come in all colours, from silvery grey to brown and red to completely black. The proverbial zig-zag pattern is not to be relied upon, as it can be completely absent in some cases. Not to mention the fact that the colour pattern on the back of the smooth snake can easily resemble a zig-zag line to the untrained eye. Even a triangular viper's head does not help much because, e.g., the grass snake can also make its head triangle-like in a defensive posture. So what is the ideal orientation?
The eyes. A well-known rule of thumb is that adders have slit-like (or vertical) pupils, whereas other Czech snakes have round pupils. That's true, and probably the most reliable sign. However, in a fleeting encounter, one may not notice such a detail, so here comes another aid - notice the snake's look. The eye of the dice snake or the smooth snake slightly resembles a fish and looks at you with a neutral, more or less expressionless gaze. The viper, on the other hand, has distinctive bars of protruding plates above its eyes that resemble wrinkled eyebrows, and this makes all vipers frown permanently. To sensitive souls, therefore, the viper might appear as a vile and bloodthirsty creature, but this is, of course, nonsense. Sure, they are predators and hunt live prey (mostly small rodents and lizards). But so do all other snakes, so the adder is no different in that respect. Most importantly, attributing human characteristics to animals and dividing them into good or bad is nonsense. So let's just remember the simple fact that if a snake stares at us like an angry grandpa, it is probably a viper.
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▷ Species
Common European adder viper (Vipera berus)
▷ Location and date
Řásná, Czechia | September 2021
▷ Equipment
Z Cam E2
Metabones T Smart
Sigma 105
Olympus 12-100
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Common European adder viper | Vipera berus | Zmije obecná | Kreuzotter | Vipère péliade | víbora común europea | marasso | Обыкновенная гадюка
#europeanwildlife #europeanadder #viperaberus