Viper (2024)

FAQs

What does viper mean? ›

broadly : any of a family (Viperidae) of venomous snakes that includes Old World snakes (subfamily Viperinae) and the pit vipers. b. : a venomous or reputedly venomous snake. 2. : a vicious or treacherous person.

Vipers are characterized by a pair of long, hollow, venom-injecting fangs attached to movable bones of the upper jaw (the maxillaries) that are folded back in the mouth when not in use. Their eyes have vertical pupils, and their scales are keeled.

Viperid venoms typically contain an abundance of protein-degrading enzymes, called proteases, that produce symptoms such as pain, strong local swelling and necrosis, blood loss from cardiovascular damage complicated by coagulopathy, and disruption of the blood-clotting system.

Distinguishing vipers from other non-venomous snakes

The EYE of the viper has a VERTICAL PUPIL shaped like a spindle, similar to that of cats, unlike other snakes that have a circular one. The head is then covered with small scales, while those of non-venomous snakes are always broad and quite noticeable.

Easton's Bible Dictionary - Viper

The Hebrew word, however, probably denotes a species of poisonous serpents known by the Arabic name of 'el ephah. Tristram has identified it with the sand viper, a species of small size common in sandy regions, and frequently found under stones by the shores of the Dead Sea.

Viper is a scientific name for a particular family of snakes that poison others by biting them with hollow fangs that inject venom. And because of that, viper (and snake) are often used to describe spiteful, disloyal, or back-stabbing people.

Saw-scaled vipers are small, but their irritability, aggressive nature, and lethal venom make them very dangerous.

Unlike the other snakes many vipers are viviparous, which means that females give birth to live young. Vipers females also take care of their young which is not very common among snakes. Vipers have relatively low metabolic rates and energy requirements.

The copperhead is a pit viper and, like others pit vipers, it has heat-sensitive pit organs on each side of its head between the eye and the nostril. These pits detect objects that are warmer than the environment and enable copperheads to locate nocturnal, mammalian prey.

And despite beliefs, snakes and even less vipers -that are way too small- don't chase or prey on humans. They are scared of us and will try everything in their power to avoid being detected by potential predators. If exposed, they will usually perform displays to warn predators not to disturb them.

Can a human survive a viper bite? ›

The chances of dying from a venomous snakebite in the United States is nearly zero, because we have available, high-quality medical care in the U.S. Fewer than one in 37,500 people are bitten by venomous snakes in the U.S. each year (7-8,000 bites per year), and only one in 50 million people will die from snakebite (5- ...

98% of venomous snakebites in the United States are from the North American pit viper, including copperheads, cottonmouths, and rattlesnakes¹. Make sure you are prepared with treatment that covers this entire range.

The inland taipan (Oxyuranus microlepidotus) is considered the most venomous snake in the world with a murine LD ₅₀ value of 0.025 mg/kg SC.

Whereas local reactions seem to be more extensive after rattlesnake bites, circulatory symptoms including severe hypotension appear to be more common after viper bites. It is concluded that the two groups of snakes may be regarded as equally dangerous.

Cobras are venomous snakes related to taipans, coral snakes, and mambas, all members of the Elapidae family. Snakes in this family cannot fold their fangs down, as vipers can, so the fangs are generally shorter. They kill their prey by injecting venom through their fangs.

Viper Origin and Meaning

The name Viper is a girl's name meaning "snake". Undeniably frightening and undeniably cool.

We have daily guided reading comprehension sessions from Year 2 onwards to ensure that children read age-related texts and answer V.I.P.E.R.S (Vocabulary, Inference, Predict, Explain, Retrieve and Summarise / Sequence) as our method to explicitly teach each skill.

viper (n.)

early 15c., from Old French vipere, earlier in English as vipera (c. 1200), directly from Latin vipera "viper, snake, serpent," contraction of *vivipera, from vivus "alive, living" (from PIE root *gwei- "to live") + parire "bring forth, bear" (from PIE root *pere- (1) "to produce, bring forth").

A viper is a small poisonous snake found mainly in Europe.