Deadly Venomous Viper | National Geographic

it hunts invisibly from above
flourishing and remote forests as well
as nearby plantations and too often it
comes in contact with us
when surprised it often chooses fight
over flight the white lift green pit
viper it’s found throughout Southeast
Asia but across the islands of Indonesia
this one small snake causes up to 50% of
all venomous bites human fatalities are
rare but birds small frogs and rodents
may not be so lucky ones hidden the
green pit uses a combination of tools to
hunt
first the snake uses its tongue like a
nose to track its prey sticking it into
the air to pick up scent molecules it’s
to fork tips deposit the molecules into
the Jacobson’s organ located on the roof
its mouth this organ tells the brain if
these scents are from a potential meal
once locked onto a scent the ambush
hunter settles into place and waits
hanging motionless coiled in a
characteristic S shape ready to pounce
as a prey approaches the pit viper
employs its most remarkable trait its
pits
these pit shaped organs contain
membranes that sense the heat given off
by warm-blooded prey
the snake processes the information with
the same part of its brain as it uses
for vision resulting in a thermal image
superimposed up to the visual one this
enables the pit viper to hone in on its
target with pinpoint accuracy hinged
fangs rest against the roof of the mouth
ready to pop open like a switchblade for
the strike
they pierce deep into the mouse
delivering a hemo toxin that begins
working immediately breaking down and
destroying blood vessels and causing
massive internal bleeding
once the toxin takes effect the green
pit uses its fangs to walk the prey into
its mouth headfirst and hole
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