West african carpet viper, Ocellated carpet viper
Echis ocellatus, known by the common names West African carpet viper and ocellated carpet viper, is a highly venomous species of viper endemic to West Africa. No subspecies are currently recognized.
It is responsible for more human fatalities due to snakebite than all other African species combined. An antivenom called Echitab-plus-ICP is manufactured by the Costa Rican Instituto Clodomiro Picado and another called EchiTabG is manufactured by MicroPharm Ltd in the UK.
Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal",...
Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
Precocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. Precocial species are normall...
Terrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
Venom is a type of poison, especially one secreted by an animal. It is delivered in a bite, sting, or similar action. Venom has evolved in terrestr...
Highly venomous animals are able to produce the most toxic venom which is considered to be one of the most debilitating and potentially deadly.
E
starts withIt is found in West Africa in Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, southern Niger, and Nigeria. Older records from Senegal and Guinea refer to Echis jogeri, and those from eastern Nigeria, Cameroon and southern Chad to Echis romani.
The type locality is described as "Haute Volta, Garango, 048 N, 033 W" (Burkina Faso).
There are also reports of single specimens found in the Bangui in the Central African Republic, and in central Sudan. It is rarely found north of the 15th parallel, after which E. leucogaster becomes more common. The geographic range of E. ocellatus extends to the coast via the Dahomey Gap. They are mainly found in savanna and occasionally in wooded areas.
The maximum total length (body + tail) is 65 cm (26 in), possibly more, while the average total length is 30–50 cm (12–20 in). They are characterized by their bulging eyes and short snout, typical of species of the genus Echis. E. ocellatus is terrestrial, nocturnal and crespuscular, it usually goes out to hunt its preys at the first hours of the night, preys like small vertebrates, like mammals, birds, lizards and amphibians, it has already been reported hunting small invertebrates like centipedes and scorpions. It's a very aggressive viper, it forms its body lika a ''S'' and rubs itself making an alert sound with its scales.
It's responsible by more fatalities than all other african snakes combined, its venom is compound of Procoagulants, anticoagulants, hemorraghins, neprhotoxins and necrotoxins, symptoms of their bites include local pain, swelling, bleeding necrosis and disfigurement which may result in amputation. Systemic symptoms include coagulopathy, hemorraghes, shock, renal failure and blindness. The envenoming rate is 80% and the lethality rate is 10-20%.
Sexually mature females lay between 6 and 20 eggs, usually at the end of the dry season in February to March. Hatchlings are 10–12 cm (3.9–4.7 in) in total length.
