Last year, a man from North Carolina survived an attack from a gaboon viper he kept in his home.
The medical team who treated him said they had never seen anyone else survive such a venomous snake bite. In fact, the gaboon viper is one of the most venomous snakes in the world, and the victim needed 44 doses of anti-venom to recover, the most doses the experts overseeing his case had ever needed to use.
He lost two fingers in the process but had no other negative effects.
Gaboon Viper: One of the Most Venomous Snakes in the World
Although their bites can be fatal, gaboon vipers tend to have a calm disposition and rarely bite people.
This is fortunate because they have the longest fangs of all venomous snakes, at 2 inches (5 centimeters) long. They are also the largest vipers in their native home of Africa. They can grow to over 6 feet (1.8 meters) and weigh over 45 pounds (20 kilograms).
The largest ones can have heads almost 6 inches (15 centimeters) wide.
They live in rainforests and wet areas all over Africa, slithering over the forest floor to hunt.
They usually eat small or medium-sized mammals and birds. However, they are not active hunters.
Instead, they wait in hiding, taking advantage of their natural brown, pink, and purple-patterned stripes and diamonds to camouflage with their surroundings. Their unique patterns can resemble fallen leaves, letting them hide among scattered leaves on the ground. When prey comes within range, the viper strikes and holds it until it dies.
The rare times they bite humans usually occur when the snakes are stepped on before they can escape. If they feel threatened, they will lift their heads and hiss threateningly before they strike. They hunt by themselves and at night, being most active around sunset.
The vipers can also control how much venom gets injected into their victim, so some bites can have no effect while others cause a hasty death.
When they are particularly hungry, they can attack almost any movement, another instance where they might accidentally attack a human.
And while most snakes lay eggs, these vipers reproduce by giving birth, often to 50 to 60 babies at once. They also can have a relatively long lifespan, living for about 20 years.
