Central and Southern Africa 



INTRODUCTION 



The i)oisonous snake fauna of central and 

 southern Africa is a large and diverse one. 

 There are no venomous terrestrial snakes on 

 Madagascar, off the east coast, and only oc- 

 casionally does a lone sea snake {Pelainis) wash 

 ashore there or along the eastern coast of the 

 mainland. However, there are records of sea 

 snakes from as far south and west as Capetown, 

 although there appear to be no reports of any 

 person having been Ijitten in African waters by 

 sea snakes. 



Other than the sea snakes, the African poison- 

 ous snakes belong to three families, the Colubii- 

 dae, the Elapidae, and the Viperidae. Africa is 

 the only region where colubrid snakes are con- 

 sidered dangerously venomous, but here there are 

 two tree snakes, the Iwomslang {Dhpholidus) 

 and the bird snake (TheJofornls), that have 

 proven to be capable of inflicting lethal bites. 



The elapids include burrowing snakes, some of 

 which (e.g., Efa/>s) are so sm:ill as to be of little 

 concern. However, there are many dangerous 

 terrestrial species as well as a number of spe- 

 cialized arboreal kinds {Psevduhn'jc. Dend roax- 

 pis). The most terrestrial of the mambas, Den- 

 drodxpJs polylefi>i. the black mamba. attains a 

 length of about 14 feet and is one of the most 

 dangerous snakes in existence. Other especially 

 dangerous terrestrial si)ecies are tiie Egyi)tian 

 cobra {Naja Iinje), which has a wide range 

 through central Africa, the spitting cobi-a [Xdjn 

 /I igricoU !■'<), also with a wide range, and the yel- 

 low cobra (.V. iilrcti) and ringhals {IIciiKtchntus) 

 of .southern Africa. 



The vipers ai'e an e(|ually diverse group. A 

 genus of buiTowing mole \'ipers (Atriictnxpix) is 

 found throughout tlie region. Even though most 

 of these do not e.xceed 2 feet in length, they are 

 callable of inflicting dangerous bites. Some of 

 the central African terrestrial vipei's are the 

 largest members of their family: the massive Ga- 

 boon \-iper {Bifis gdhon'/ca) exceptionally attains 

 a length of fi feet, with fangs almost '1 incites long. 

 In addition theit^ are relatively small desert vipers 

 in the temperate south. However, the most wide- 

 spi'ead, the most commonly seen, and probably 

 the greatest killer of man is the common i)utl' 

 adder {lliiis iir/cfmis) . The bush vijiers (Afhf- 

 /■/x) do not appear to be an important danger. 



With such a wealth of dangerously venomous 

 snakes, one would expect snakebite to be an im- 

 portant cause of death in Africa. However, the 

 few statistics available do not give this impres- 

 sion. The reported incidence of death from 



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M.\I' 7. — StHtiiui (i. (■('iili:il and S(piH1umii .Vfrica. 



snakebite is much lower than in the trojjical coun- 

 tries of the Asian mainland. Whether this is a 

 true picture or if it is distorted by poor reporting 

 is as yet unknown. 



The vipers of the genera IJIfl-s. Kchi-s. Atherl-t, 

 and Vipera have the connnon attributes of veno- 

 mous snakes — broad distinct head and eyes with 

 vertically elliptical pupils. However, this is not 

 true of tlie night adders {Causus), the mole vipers 

 {Atractaspis), or the various elapid and danger- 

 ous colubrid species. These have no general char- 

 acteri.stics that set them off from harndess snakes. 

 However, poisonous snakes make up less than a 

 quarter of the snake fauna throughout the region 

 and it is not too difficult to learn the venomous 

 kinds in any one area. 



^lany of the elapid species are cobras (Xaja) 

 or cobra-like kinds, and while a cobra minding 

 its own business looks very much like any other 

 snake, a disturbed cobra will ([uickly spread a 

 hood — which is a plain and distinctive warning. 

 Even .some of the elapids without well-developed 

 hoods (e.g., the mambas, Detulroaxp/x) will flatten 

 the neck if distuibed. and some which do not re- 

 semble cobras in any way (e.g., A-ipidelapa) will 

 flatten the neck and raise the anterior part of the 

 body in the familiar cobra stance. 



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