Horned viper Cerastes cerastes. Desert animals - hardy and hardworking This viper Fritz Zelenke

A flat head, a pair of sharp horns over almost cat-like eyes, an unusual manner of movement - the owner of such a memorable appearance could not but leave her mark on history. Indeed, the horned viper (lat. Cerastes cerastes ) has long been well known in its homeland - in arid savannahs and foothills North Africa, in the quicksands of the Sahara Desert and the Arabian Peninsula.

According to the Greek historian Herodotus, the ancient Egyptians treated horned vipers with great reverence and even embalmed the bodies of dead snakes. Their mummies were discovered during excavations in Thebes, which suggests the important and even mystical role of horned snakes in the life of the ancient inhabitants of Egypt. It was this reptile that served the Egyptians as the basis for one of the letters of the alphabet - the hieroglyph "phi". It is believed that the reason for this was the ability of horned vipers to make hissing sounds with the help of lateral scales.

In general, the role that these scales, similar to pointed blades, play in the life of horned snakes can hardly be overestimated. They are much smaller than the dorsal scales, run along the entire lateral surface of the body and are directed downward at an angle, forming something like a long sharp saw.

When the reptile needs to burrow into the sand, it spreads its ribs to the sides, thereby flattening the body, and with quick vibrating movements, using sawtooth scales as a burrowing mechanism, sinks into the sand in a matter of seconds. It is unlikely that you will be able to see a trace of a viper hiding in the sand: the very first breath of the breeze takes away the barely noticeable sandy hillocks left over from the dive.

The horned viper spends the entire bright part of the day in abandoned rodent burrows or buried in the sand, leaving only its eyes on the surface. It is almost impossible to notice her in this position: the sandy-yellow color of the body, diluted with brown spots, does an excellent job of camouflage. Under the cover of night, horned predators go hunting: moving silently through the night desert, they catch small rodents, birds and lizards.

If camouflage coloring is not enough, and you need to scare away uninvited guest, the horned snake stands on its tail in the shape of the letter "C" and begins to vigorously rub one part of the body against the other. And here the lateral scales again come to the rescue: clinging to each other, they produce a loud hissing sound that can continuously last almost two minutes.

And, of course, the most convincing argument in the defense is poison. It is said that after the bite of a horned viper, there is a feeling that the heart is clenching an invisible fist. But in general, the poison of this snake is not fatal, and the same Egyptians learned to neutralize it more than two thousand years ago.

Another one interesting feature of this reptile is its manner of moving. The horned viper moves along the sand with the so-called "side passage". She alternately throws forward and to the side the back of the body, and only then pulls the front. Since, when moving, the viper does not touch the sand with the middle part of the body, its track is not a continuous line, but a series of oblique parallel strips located at an angle of approximately 60 degrees to the direction of movement.

And while the horned viper crawls, its scales protruding from its sides collect morning dew, storing invaluable moisture to survive another long hot day.

(Cerastes cerastes) — poisonous snake from the genus horned viper families vipers. Has 2 subspecies. Another name is "desert horned viper".

Description

The total length reaches 60-80 cm. The head is wide. One sharp vertical scale sticks out above the eyes. The length of these scales is very different. The body is thick, the tail is sharply narrowed, short. The scales on the sides of the body are smaller than the dorsal ones, strongly keeled and directed obliquely down, forming a kind of saw that runs along each side. The coloration is sandy-yellow with dark brown spots along the back and on both sides of the body.

Lifestyle

Likes deserts, dry savannahs, foothills. During the day, it burrows into the sand or hides in rodent burrows; after dark, it goes hunting.

It moves in a “lateral move”, throwing the back half of the body forward and to the side and pulling the front half towards it. At the same time, the only trace remains on the sand, and separate oblique strips at an angle of 40-60 ° to the direction of movement, since when “throwing” forward, the snake does not touch the ground with the middle of the body, relying only on the front and rear ends of the body. In the process of movement, periodically changes the “working side” of the body, moving forward either with the left or with the right side. Thus, a uniform load on the muscles of the body is achieved with an asymmetric method of movement.

Small keeled scales, which are sawtooth located on the sides of the body, serve as the main mechanism for burrowing the snake in the sand. The viper spreads the ribs to the sides, flattening the body and with a quick transverse vibration pushes the sand apart, “drowning” in it literally before our eyes. Kilevati scales act like miniature plows. In 10-20 seconds it disappears in the thickness of the sand. There remains only a trace of her dive, bordered by 2 sandy rollers, this trace soon disappears under a light breeze. Burrowing, the snake often sticks its head out of the sand just enough so that its eyes are flush with the surface. At the same time, a thin layer of sand remains on the upper side of the head, masking it. Keelwati scales are also used by the viper to create a peculiar scaring sound. Curled into a half ring, the snake rubs one side of the body against the other, the sawtooth scales scrape against each other, making a loud continuous rustle. This sound is most similar to the hissing of water poured onto a red-hot stove. Excited by danger, the viper can continuously "hiss" in this way for 1-2 minutes. This "hiss" is used by the snake to scare away enemies, similar to the vocal hiss of most snakes or the dry chirping of a rattle in rattlesnakes.

Feeds on small rodents and birds. Juveniles feed on grasshoppers and lizards.

This is an oviparous snake. The female lays 10-20 eggs. The pups hatch after 48 days.

Man and horned viper

It was well known to the ancient Egyptians. It was this type of snake that served as the basis for the Egyptian hieroglyph "phi". The choice of a snake for this character is explained by the sound similarity.

Snake charmers in Egypt used to and now willingly use in their performances. The "horns" of vipers are undoubtedly the most spectacular attribute of their appearance, however, the supraorbital scales are sometimes very weakly expressed. Therefore, some spellcasters, not content with the natural size of the "horns", glue the sharp tips of porcupine needles over their eyes to their "artists" in order to ensure their success with a gullible public.

Spreading

This snake inhabits the Sahara desert (Africa), as well as the Arabian Peninsula.

California ground cuckoo- a North American bird from the cuckoo family (Cuculidae). It lives in deserts and semi-deserts in the south and southwest of the United States and in northern Mexico.

Adult ground cuckoos reach a length of 51 to 61 cm, including the tail. They have a long, slightly curved beak. The head, crest, back and long tail are dark brown with light spots. The neck and belly are also light. The extremely long legs and long tail are adaptations for a desert-running lifestyle.

The California ground cuckoo can reach speeds of up to 42 km/h. The special arrangement of the toes also helps her in this, since both outer toes are located back, and both inner ones are forward. She flies, however, because of her short wings very poorly and can stay in the air for only a few seconds.

This bird spends most of its time on the ground and preys on snakes, lizards, insects, rodents and small birds. She is fast enough to kill even small vipers, which she grabs by the tail with her beak and beats her head on the ground like a whip. She swallows her prey whole. Own English title Road Runner (road runner) this bird received for the fact that it used to run after mail coaches and grab small animals disturbed by their wheels.

death valley

Death Valley got its name from the settlers who crossed it in 1849, trying to reach the gold mines of California by the shortest route. The guidebook briefly reports that "some stayed in it forever." The dead were poorly prepared for the passage through the desert, did not stock up on water and lost their bearings. Before his death, one of them cursed this place, calling it Death Valley. The few survivors withered the meat of the mules on the wreckage of the dismantled wagons and reached the goal. They left behind "cheerful" place names: Death Valley, Funeral Range, Last Chance Ridge, Coffin Canyon, Dead Man's Pass, Hell's Gate, Rattlesnake Gorge, etc.

Badwater Basin is the lowest part of Death Valley, located at 85.5 m below sea level. Sometime after the Ice Age, Death Valley was a huge lake with fresh water. The local hot and dry climate contributed to the inevitable evaporation of water. Annual short-term, but very intense rains wash tons of minerals from the surface of the mountains into the lowlands. The salts remaining after the evaporation of the water settle to the bottom, reaching the highest concentration in the lowest place, in the Pond with bad water. Here, rainwater lingers longer, forming small temporary lakes. Once upon a time, the first settlers were surprised that their dehydrated mules refused to drink water from these lakes, and they marked "bad water" on the map. So this area got its name. In fact, the water in the pool (when it is) is not poisonous, but it tastes very salty. There are also unique inhabitants here that are not found in other places: algae, aquatic insects, larvae and even a mollusk, named after the place of residence Badwater Snail.

Nearby is the lowest terrain in the Valley Badwater Basin. Salt behaves differently here. On an absolutely flat white surface, a uniform salt net 4-6 cm high is formed. The grid consists of figures, gravitating in shape to a hexagon, and covers the bottom of the Valley with a huge cobweb, creating an absolutely unearthly landscape.

Sailing stones, also called sliding or crawling stones, are a geological phenomenon. The stones move slowly along the clay bottom of the lake, as evidenced by the long footprints left behind them. The stones move on their own without the help of living beings, but no one has ever seen or recorded the movement on camera. Similar stone movements have been noted in several other places, but in terms of the number and length of tracks, Racetrack Playa stands out from the rest.

The territory of the park includes the Salina Valley, most of the Panamint Valley, as well as the territories of several mountain systems. Telescope Peak rises to the west, Dante’s View to the east, from which you can see beautiful view all over the valley.

Coati- a mammal from the genus nosoha of the raccoon family. This mammal received its name for an elongated and very funny mobile stigma-nose.
Their head is narrow, their hair is short, their ears are round and small. On the edge of the inner side of the ears is a white rim. Nosukha is the owner of a very long tail, which is almost always in an upright position. With the help of the tail, the animal balances when moving. The characteristic color of the tail is the alternation of light yellow, brown and black rings.

The color of the nose is varied: from orange to dark brown. The muzzle is usually a uniform black or brown. On the muzzle, below and above the eyes, there are light spots. The neck is yellowish, the paws are painted black or dark brown.

the trap is elongated, the paws are strong with five fingers and non-retractable claws. With its claws, the nosuha digs the ground, getting food. The hind legs are longer than the front. The length of the body from the nose to the tip of the tail is 80-130 cm, the length of the tail itself is 32-69 cm. The height at the withers is about 20-29 cm. They weigh about 3-5 kg. Males are almost twice as large as females.

Nosoha live on average 7-8 years, but in captivity they can live up to 14 years. They live in tropical and subtropical forests South America and the southern United States. Their favorite place is dense bushes, low-lying forests, rocky terrain. Due to human intervention recent times noses prefer forest edges and glades.

They say that nosuha used to be called simply badgers, but since real badgers moved to Mexico, the true homeland of nosoha, this species has received its individual name.

All noses, including coatis, are predators! Coatis get their food with their noses, diligently sniffing and groaning, they inflate the foliage in this way and look for termites, ants, scorpions, beetles, larvae under it. Sometimes it can also feed on land crabs, frogs, lizards, rodents. During the hunt, the coati clamps the victim with its paws and bites through its head. In difficult times of famine, nosuhi allow themselves vegetarian cuisine, they eat ripe fruits, which, as a rule, are always in abundance in the forest. Moreover, they do not make stocks, but return to the tree from time to time.

Males usually lead a solitary life and only during the mating season do they join the family groups of females with young. In the mating season, and this is usually from October to March, one male is accepted into a group of females and young. Everyone mates with this male sexually mature females living in a group, and soon after mating they leave the group.

Nosukha brings cubs once a year. Usually there are 2-6 cubs in a litter. Newborns weigh 100-180 grams and are completely dependent on the mother, who leaves the nest for a while to find food. The eyes open at about 11 days. For several weeks, the babies remain in the nest, and then leave it with their mother and join the family group.
Lactation lasts up to four months. Young coats remain with their mother until she begins to prepare for the birth of the next offspring.

Red Lynx- the most common wild cat of the North American continent. In general appearance, this is a typical lynx, but it is almost two times smaller than an ordinary lynx and not so long-legged and broad-legged. Its body length is 60-80 cm, height at the withers is 30-35 cm, weight is 6-11 kg. You can recognize a red lynx by its white

You can meet a red lynx in dense subtropical forests or in desert places among prickly cacti, on high mountain slopes or in swampy lowlands. The presence of a person does not prevent her from appearing on the outskirts of villages or small towns. This predator chooses areas for itself where it is possible to feast on small rodents, nimble squirrels or shy rabbits and even prickly porcupines.

Vision and hearing are well developed. Hunts on the ground, sneaking up on prey. With its sharp claws, the lynx holds the victim and kills it with a bite to the base of the skull. In one sitting, an adult animal eats up to 1.4 kg of meat. The remaining surplus hides and returns to them the next day.For rest, the red lynx chooses a new place every day, not lingering in the old one. It can be a crack in the rocks, a cave, a hollow log, a space under a fallen tree, etc. On the ground or snow, the red lynx takes a step about 25 - 35 cm long; the size of an individual footprint is about 4.5 x 4.5 cm. While walking, they place their hind legs exactly in the tracks left by their front paws. Because of this, they never make a very loud noise from the crackling of dry twigs under their feet. The soft cushions on their feet help them to quietly sneak up on the animal on close quarters. Bobcats are good tree climbers and can also swim across small bodies of water, but they only do so on rare occasions.

The red lynx is a territorial animal. The lynx marks the boundaries of the site and its paths with urine and feces. In addition, she leaves marks of her claws on the trees. The male knows that the female is ready to mate by the smell of her urine. A mother with cubs is very aggressive towards any animal and person that threatens her kittens.

AT wild nature males and females love loneliness, meeting only during the breeding season. The only time when individuals of different sexes look for meetings is the mating season, which falls at the end of winter - the beginning of spring. The male mates with all the females that are in the same area with him. Pregnancy of the female lasts only 52 days. The cubs are born in the spring, blind and helpless. At this time, the female tolerates the male only near the den. After about a week, the babies open their eyes, but for another eight weeks they stay with their mother and feed on her milk. The mother licks their fur and warms them with her body. The female bobcat is a very caring mother. In case of danger, she takes the kittens to another shelter.

A male bobcat often occupies an area of ​​100 km2, border areas can be common to several males. The area of ​​the female is half that. Within the territory of one male, 2-3 females usually live. A male red lynx, on whose territory three females with cubs often live, has to get food for 12 kittens.

Among the almost two and a half thousand species of higher plants found in the flora of the Sonoran Desert, the most widely represented are species from the family of Asteraceae, legumes, cereals, buckwheat, euphorbia, cactus and borage. A number of communities characteristic of the main habitats make up the vegetation of the Sonoran Desert.

Vegetation grows on extensive, slightly sloping alluvial fans, the main components of which are groups of creosote bush and ragweed. They also include several types of prickly pear, quinoa, acacia, fukeria, or okotilo.

On the alluvial plains below the alluvial fans, the vegetation cover mainly consists of sparse forest consisting of mesquite trees. Their roots, penetrating into the depths, reach the groundwater, and the roots located in the surface layer of the soil, within a radius of up to twenty meters from the trunk, can intercept precipitation. An adult mesquite tree reaches a height of eighteen meters, and can be more than a meter wide. In modern times, only the pitiful remnants of the once majestic mesquite forests, long cut down for fuel, remain. The mesquite forest is very similar to the thickets of black saxaul in the Karakum Desert. The composition of the forest, in addition to the mesquite tree, includes clematis and acacia.

By the water, along the banks of the rivers, near the water, poplars are located, to which ash and Mexican elder are mixed. Plants such as acacia, creosote bush and celtis grow in the beds of the arroyo, drying up temporary streams, as well as on the adjacent plains. In the desert of Gran Desierto, near the coast of the Gulf of California, ambrosia and creosote bush predominate on sandy plains, and ephedra and tobosa, ambrosia grow on sand dunes.

In the Arizona Uplands, northwest of the Sonoran Desert, the vegetation is especially colorful and varied. A denser vegetation cover and a variety of vegetation are due here to more precipitation than in other areas of Sonora, as well as the ruggedness of the relief, a combination of steep slopes of different exposures and hills. A kind of cactus forest, in which the main place is occupied by a giant columnar saguaro cactus, with an undersized encelium shrub located between the cacti, is formed on gravelly soils with large quantity fine earth. Also among the vegetation there are large barrel-shaped ferocactus, ocotillo, paloverde, several species of prickly pear, acacia, celtis, creosote bush, as well as mesquite tree, in floodplains.

With a peculiar look, such trees and bushes of the Sonoran Desert as an ivory tree, an iron tree and an idriya, or buoyum, growing only in two areas of the Sonoran Desert, located in Mexico, which is part of such a region as Latin America, attract attention.

The Vizcaino area is located in the central third of the California Peninsula. Precipitation is scarce, but the air is cool, as moist sea breezes often bring fog, which weakens the aridity of the climate. Rain falls mainly in winter and averages less than 125 mm. Here in the flora there are some very unusual plants, bizarre landscapes are characteristic: fields of white granite boulders, cliffs of black lavas, etc. Interesting plants are bujamas, an elephant tree, a 30 m high cordon, a throttling ficus growing on rocks and a blue palm tree. In contrast to the main Vizcaino Desert, the Vizcaino Coastal Plain is a flat, cool, foggy desert with 0.3 m high shrubs and fields of annuals.

Riverside communities are usually isolated bands or islands of deciduous forests along temporary streams. There are very few permanent or drying streams (the largest is the Colorado River), but there are many where water appears for only a couple of days or even a few hours a year. Dry channels, or "washes", arroyo - "arroyos" are places where many trees and shrubs are concentrated. Xerophilic light forests along dry channels are very variable. Near-pure mesquite forest occurs along some temporary streams, others may be dominated by blue paloverde or ironwood, or forest develops mixed type. The so-called "desert willow" is characteristic, which is actually a catalpa.

horned viper can reach about 60-65 cm in length and it is immediately clear that she is a child of the desert, since her body has a color similar to the color of sand. The main color is brownish-yellow, on it you can see either almost quadrangular, or rounded, indistinctly protruding or clearly outlined transverse spots of red-brown or dark brown color; they are arranged in six longitudinal rows and decrease from the middle to the sides. A dark brown stripe passes under the viper's eyes, and in the middle of the head you can see a light yellowish-brown stripe, which is divided into two on the back of the head and connected to two other similar stripes that come from the chin. The scales surrounding the mouth are a light sandy yellow color, and the scutes of the lower body are white or light yellow. One belt around the body has 29 to 33 scales; on the back they are vertically arranged to each other, and on the sides they take an indirect direction; the anal shield is undivided, and the shields on the tail are divided into two.

The image of this viper can be seen in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, since its original name "phi" was further used to represent a similar letter. Herodotus mentioned this snake and says that it lives near Thebes, has two horns on its head and does not pose a danger to people; in addition, he noted that it was considered sacred, but he did not explain why. Other ancient writers only described its appearance.

horned viper is common throughout, except for, as well as on the territory of rocky Arabia; it can also be found south of the desert belt, for example, the horned viper was found in the East, and also, quite often in the steppes of Kordofan. Gesner talked about Africa being full of these vipers; especially a lot of these snakes in the barren and sandy Libyan desert. There is a legend according to which, before there were a lot of horned vipers; they occupied a significant part of the country's territory, and it was turned into a desert, since no one could live there.

Usually they live under the sand in sandy places or lie near the roads in minks, from where they can attack those who pass by without much difficulty, which others like to do. Although the horned viper is very provocative and poisonous, but only it and the common viper can remain alive for such a long time without water.

Horned vipers give birth to live young. They can crawl pretty well with a lot of twists and turns, and it whistles and makes a lot of noise, like a ship that is carried by the waves and is tossed here and there by the wind.

The horned viper hunts birds quite diligently, lures birds with its horns sticking out above earth's surface, hiding the torso under the sand; after that, she quickly grabs her prey and kills it. These vipers do not cause absolutely no friendship and love among the inhabitants, but they wish harm and hate them. They do not harm the Psyllas, and the bites of these snakes are not dangerous for them, so these people can drive them away. with bare hands not only from myself, but also from other people. To test the fidelity of their wives, the psillas put their children under these snakes, just as they test gold with fire.

No, the snake does not actually have any horns, they are false, but they look natural, don't they? And today, we will tell you about the Persian horned viper.

Description of the horned viper

This type of snake belongs to the viper family. The body length of such an individual reaches 80-100 cm. The body is quite dense with a wide head and a noticeable neck interception. Above the eyes you can see a kind of vertically standing soft outgrowth covered with scales, which we perceive as "horns".

What is most interesting is that not all snakes have paired "horns", sometimes they grow only one at a time. Since the snake is constantly in the sand and soil, nature endowed it with nostrils with valves that nothing gets into. Color horned snake gray-brown with dark spots, and transverse stripes.

HABITAT AND LIFESTYLE OF THE PERSIAN HORNE VIPER

Where does the Persian horned viper live?

The snake dwells in Turkey, in United Arab Emirates(that's why it got its name "Persian"), Pakistan, Oman, Israel, in Saudi Arabia, Jordan.

Lifestyle of the horned viper

Persian horned snake conducts predominantly nocturnal Lifestyle.
Many people get the impression that the reptile is buried in the sand, but this is not the case. This impression is formed from the movements, but thanks to the lateral movements of the torso, the snake does not fall into the sand. Yes, she often digs the sand with her head, because she lives exclusively on sandy soil.

By the way, horned viper capable of reaching speeds of up to 37 km / h sideways! AT diet reptiles include lizards, rodents and birds. Females and males mate, laying 10-20 eggs annually, from which, after a short amount of time, small snakes 15 cm long hatch.

VIDEO: ABOUT VIPS

IN THIS VIDEO, YOU WILL LEARN A LOT OF USEFUL AND INTERESTING ABOUT THE PERSIAN HORNED VIPER