The butterfly viper is one of the most dangerous and venomous snakes as just small doses of its venom can be deadly, destroying tissue and blood vessels and causing internal bleeding and massive hemorrhaging.
Like all vipers, the butterfly viper is venomous. It is considered to be one of the most dangerous and venomous snakes of Africa. Unlike the Gaboon viper (Bitis gabonica) who uses a considerably large amount of venom, just small doses of the butterfly viper’s venom can be deadly.
This venom attacks the circulatory system of the snake’s victim, destroying tissue and blood vessels. This causes internal bleeding and massive hemorrhaging.
In only a few detailed reports of human envenomation, massive swelling, which may lead to necrosis, had been described. Some bites cause paralysis, some cause swelling, and most of them cause shock, where the blood stops coagulating and people either bleed from the tissues or fluid leaks out of their blood vessels.
• Image | © H. Krisp, Some Rights Reserved (CC BY 3.0)
• Sources | (Firehouse, 2003; Lipsett 2003; Rogers, 2000; Spawls, Howell, Drewes, & Ashe, 2004; The Wikimedia Foundation, 2018)
