Top Five Scariest and Deadliest Snakes

Diamondback Rattlesnakes

Found primarily in North Carolina, Louisiana and Florida, Diamondback Rattlesnakes are the largest of all North American venomous reptiles. Even though they’re extremely poisonous snakes, you might be blown away by their magnificent color (color ranges from brown to gray to pinkish) with impressive diversity.

In rock arts, ceramics and ancient mythology, Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes have been regarded as a symbol of the American Southwest, beginning from prehistoric time. Their spade-like heads are marked by a distinctive feature of two dark stripes on each side of their face, running diagonally like a Zorro’s mask from their eyes to their jaws while their raccoon-like tails are circled by several alternating black and white bands. They can grow up to seven feet in length, and are perhaps the weirdest species in the southwestern desert.

Boomslang

Commonly seen throughout sub-Saharan Africa, Boomslang (Dispholidus typus) is a large, highly poisonous and excellent tree climbing snake identified in the Colubridae snake family. While most of Colubrids are non-venomous snakes, Boomslang is an unusual snake that delivers potent Hemotoxic venom to its victim via deeply, large grooved folded fangs situated in the rear of its mouth. Its bite is said to destroy red blood cells causing organ degeneration, and tissue damage while affecting the circulatory system. Because of this fatal snake bite, the Boomslang is very dangerous to humans.

Boomslang is rarely seen in the thick forest since it can camouflage pretty well and always strikes its prey without warning. Its adult female is usually brown in color, while the male is often a light green with blue or black highlights outlining the edges of their scales. It has amazing large eyes in proportion to its distinctive egg-shaped head.

Eyelash Pit Viper

Eyelash pit viper (Bothrops schlegeli) was named after the German ornithologist, Hermann Schlegel, and its species is seen throughout Central America, Columbia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Southern Mexico. Its venom is very deadly and can cause severe tissue damage and death as well.

The most distinctive feature of this dangerous snake is the set of eyelashes-look-like scales above each of its eyes that assists it in camouflage. Its triangular shaped wide head, vertical pupils, and highly variable body colour ranging from bright yellow, brown, green, red to reddish-yellow spots throughout its body, further highlights its impressive appearance.

Eyelash pit viper is a tree-loving species and thus prefers to hang in the trees found in the tropical rainforest to look for birds and tree frogs, and it seldom comes to the ground. Between each eye and nostril of this pit viper, there are heat sensitive organs (or pits) helping it to detect the direction of its prey while hunting at night.

Bush Viper

Bush Viper (Atheris squamigera), commonly known as leaf viper is a highly venomous ambush predator that is native to Kenya, Uganda, Cameroon, Angola and Zaire. This slender Bush Viper is relatively large. Typically it can reach over 2 feet in length, and its body is decorated by a magnificent coloration ranging from pale green, yellowish green to darker olive, rusty brown, or a brown colour. The coil-like prehensile tail with a yellow tip helps this snake to anchor securely to branches.

 Puff Adder

Puff Adder (Bitis arietans) is an extremely thick and heavily built snake, reaching up to a weight of six kilograms, with male snake larger than the female snake. It has been recorded that Puff Adder can reach to a maximum length of 120cm.

Puff Adder is a slow-moving, bad-tempered and sluggish snake, reluctantly to move but prefers to lie quietly in the rocky grassland throughout Southern Africa. As it relies on camouflage to high in it’s surrounding, explaining why it’s considered as Africa’s most dangerous snake and is responsible for many fatalities. When Puff Adder moves, it moves in a petty pace just like the way the caterpillar moves.

When disturbed, it hisses ominously and forms a tight coil while holding its head in a ‘S’ position, enabling it to forward with a tremendous speed or to strike its prey or humans sideways. Its venom is highly toxic and can lead to severe pain, nausea, weakness, shock, unconsciousness, hypotension, tissue and skin necrosis, and even death as well. 

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