Читать книгу Fauna of Africa and Australia. Photo Album – 2020 - Romans Arzjancevs - Страница 105

– Because of their large, heavy body size, the adults have no trouble eating prey as large as fully grown rabbits. When prey happens by, they strike with very fast precision from any angle. Once they strike their prey, they hang on to it with their large fangs rather than letting it go and waiting for it to die. This behaviour is very different from the behaviour of other species of vipers.

– These snakes feed on a variety of birds and mammals, such as doves, guineafowl, many different species of rodents, including field mice and rats, as well as hares and rabbits.

– However, the venom glands are enormous and each bite produces the second largest quantities of venom of any venomous snake; this is partially due to the fact that, unlike many African vipers such as the puff adder, the Gaboon viper does not release after a bite, which enables it to inject larger amounts of venom.