What does the horned viper symbolize?

The Horned Serpent appears in the mythologies of many cultures including Native American peoples, European, and Near Eastern mythology. Details vary among cultures, with many of the stories associating the mystical figure with water, rain, lightning, thunder, and rebirth.

This pit viper (subfamily Crotalinae) has small horns above each eye, possibly to keep sand from covering the eyes when the snake is buried. It is a nocturnal inhabitant of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico (see Sonoran Desert), where it feeds upon rodents.

A sharp upright scale above each eye resembles a horn. The desert horned viper moves swiftly across the loose sand by sidewinding, throwing oblique loops first with its top half and then with its lower half. With its sharp-edged scales it can shuffle into the sand with amazing speed, burying itself up to the eyes.

Description. The average total length (body and tail) is 30–60 cm (12–24 in), with a maximum total length of 85 cm (33 in). Females are larger than males. One of the most distinctive characteristics of this species is the presence of supraorbital "horns", one over each eye.

Historically, serpents and snakes represent fertility or a creative life force. As snakes shed their skin through sloughing, they are symbols of rebirth, transformation, immortality, and healing. The ouroboros is a symbol of eternity and continual renewal of life.

Sahara horned vipers are among the most abundant and easily distinguishable of the venomous snakes of the North African and Middle Eastern deserts. Cerastes cerastes is generally distributed all across North Africa, including southwestern Arabia and southwestern Israel.

Horns provide a diversity of important functions for the animals bearing them, such as defense from predators, tools in fighting other members of the species for territory or mating, feeding, courtship displays, and cooling.

The horned viper injects its venom into its prey through hollow teeth. The venom causes problems with blood clotting, in particular. In rare cases, a viper bite can be fatal to humans.

Despite their reputation, Nose-horned vipers are not aggressive and tend not to bite without considerable provocation. If surprised, wild specimens may react in a number of different ways. Some remain motionless and hiss loudly, some hiss and then flee, while still others will attempt to bite immediately.

In venom glands, adult specimens of horned viper have 10-45 mg of venom, and one bite can excrete as much as 20 mg of venom, which can be a lethal dose for a healthy adult, especially children, and chronically ill patients.

Vipers include some of the deadliest snakes. A viper has a stocky body, a wide head, and long, hinged fangs at the front of its mouth for injecting venom. The venom causes a very painful wound that can be fatal. Vipers target warm-blooded prey, such as rats and mice, and some hunt during the day.

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.

They are idealists, philosophers, ethicists, and truth seekers. Horned Serpents keep an open mind, think their way through difficult situations, and use the knowledge they gather to become more courageous people, to fuel their creative drive, to inform their relationships, or to feed their ambitions.

Abstract. Since antiquity, the snake has been regarded as a totem of rebirth. Dating back to Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine, who carried a snake-entwined staff with him, the snake has been symbolic of both medicine and toxicology.

It can represent death, destruction, evil, a penetrating legless essence, and/or poison. In the Christian tradition, Satan (in the guise of the serpent) instigated the fall by tricking Eve into breaking God's command. Thus the serpent can represent temptation, the devil, and deceit.

The etymology behind the word “venomous” explains the relationship between women and snakes, coming from the Latin venenatus, “furnished with poison, poisonous, venomous” or “imbued with magical powers.”1 Thus, the snake imagery depicts the capability of a woman unleashing her venom, her magical powers, and striking ...

The rhinoceros snake gets its name from the scaly "horn" on the tip of its snout. In rare instances, a rhinoceros snake will keep its steel gray, subadult coloring rather than turning the typical blue-green.

Matilda's Horned Viper was discovered in a small patch of southwest Tanzania about two years ago and was introduced last month as the world's newest known snake species in an issue of Zootaxa.

During natural selection horns may have provided advantages concerning predator defence or in competition for mates and resources. Additionally, there are indications that horns serve as honest signals in mate selection, as they reflect individual health.

Horns serve as weapons of defense against predators and of offense in battles between males for breeding access to females.

The horn is a mid-range brass instrument that has the widest tonal range of all brass instruments. The extremely rich, soft timbre gives it a special quality half-way between brass and woodwinds, and in harmonies, it blends well with the timbres of many other instruments.

In many cases, with urgent first aid, prompt treatment and hospitalization of the victim, the prognosis is typically good. Without treatment or access to proper healthcare, deaths from severe systemic symptoms and complications from European Nose-Horned Viper Snake Bites have been reported.

Marlin Perkins, who was the host of television's ''Wild Kingdom'' program for many years and who died in 1986, was one person who survived a bite by a Gaboon viper. The adult viper is typically only four feet long, a stumpy creature with a beautiful tapestry pattern on its skin.

If you see a snake

European horned viper (Vipera ammodytes) Europe's most dangerous snake. Captive, occurs in south-east Europe. European horned viper (Vipera ammodytes) Europe's most dangerous snake.

Antivenom Therapy is the mainstay of treatment for Rhinoceros Horned Viper envenomation. Many of the signs and symptoms are ameliorated or entirely eliminated by the antivenom alone. Other symptoms will require additional therapeutic modalities in order to be corrected.