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Asp viper

Vipera aspis

名字的由來： "Aspis" is a Greek word that means "viper".1

需要看醫生很少致命，但被咬了需要看醫生。

蝰蛇

咬吃：肉

對人的危險: 嚴重被咬了需要看醫生。死亡案例非常罕見。

The asp viper is a venomous snake of south-western Europe. It lives in warm, sunny places with dry soil, often in hills and rocky areas. Its bite can be more severe than that of the European adder, so it is important to know what it looks like.1

分布在

South-western Europe: France, Andorra, north-eastern Spain, south-western Germany, Switzerland, Italy and north-western Slovenia.1

歐洲

首頁

It needs warm, sun-exposed areas with plenty of plant cover and fairly dry soil. It is found on sunny slopes, scrubland, forest clearings, woodland edges, mountain meadows, rubbish dumps and stone quarries. In France and Italy it is often found in low mountains and hills, especially in limestone areas.1

長度

60 cm 到 85 cm (2 ft 到 2,8 ft)1

最高速度

大約 3,4 km/h（2,1 mph）

在陸地上, 粗略估計

牠吃什麼？

It is known to eat lizards, as shown in one photograph of an asp eating a lizard in Tuscany, Italy.1

Asp viper 的照片 — Asp viper。照片：Gilles San Martin。 CC BY-SA 4.0, iNaturalist.

怎麼認出牠

Average total length is 60–65 cm. Males can reach 85 cm, while females are rarely longer than 75 cm.1
The head is broad and triangular, and it is clearly separate from the neck.1
The tip of the snout is slightly but distinctly turned up.1
The tail is very short, and males are a little slimmer than females.1
The pattern on the back varies a lot. It rarely forms a clear zigzag, unlike the European adder.1

常被誤認為： The European adder (Vipera berus) is a close relative. The asp's back pattern rarely forms a clear zigzag, as the adder's often does. Bites from the asp can be more severe than those from the adder.1

毒液力量

咬

咬的時候，毒液會從毒牙或牙齒出來。

牠的毒液有什麼作用？

Its venom causes rapidly spreading, severe pain, followed by swelling and skin discolouration. Severe bleeding and tissue death can happen within a few hours. Vision may be badly affected, and in some cases victims developed breathing and swallowing difficulties and paralysis of the bitten limb.1

牠對人有多危險？

對人的危險: 嚴重被咬了需要看醫生。死亡案例非常罕見。

About 4% of untreated bites are fatal. In Italy, this species causes 90% of snakebite cases and is the only snake in Italian mountains that can be potentially lethal. Its bites can be more severe than those of the European adder.1

如果牠咬人

讓傷者保持不動和冷靜，讓被咬的手臂或腿保持在和心臟一樣的高度，取下戒指和緊身的東西，並趕快送醫院。

一定要先打緊急電話（112、000、911）。這是一般急救指引，不是醫療建議。急救基本知識

注意安全

絕對不要碰、抓或捉弄野生動物，就算是很小的動物，就算牠看起來在睡覺或已經死了也一樣。
給牠空間。如果遇到了，保持冷靜，慢慢往後退，讓牠自己離開。
如果被牠咬了：保持冷靜，保持不動，打緊急電話（112、000、911）或趕快去醫院。記住牠的樣子，有照片會很有幫助。

牠不是想來抓你。牠用毒液來捕捉食物或保護自己，而且牠更想躲起來。更多安全知識

在世界上的哪裡？

非洲亞洲歐洲北美洲南美洲澳洲與大洋洲

牠有多大？

牠有多長？

跟 1,5 隻家貓從鼻子接到尾巴一樣長跟 5 根香蕉頭尾相接一樣長可以在 110 秒內跑完 100 公尺（最快的人類需要 9.6 秒）

Asp viper 跟「你」比起來有多大？

只是在你的瀏覽器裡做算術。什麼都不會儲存，也不會傳送到任何地方。

牠有多快？

一隻陸龜 大約 0,3 km/h (0,19 mph)

Asp viper 大約 3,4 km/h (2,1 mph)

一個正在走路的人 大約 5 km/h (3,1 mph)

值得知道

小知識

Ancient writers named the snake that supposedly killed Queen Cleopatra as an asp. Experts think a cobra would have been too big, over 5 feet long, to smuggle in a basket.1

In the past, the word "asp" was used to mean any venomous snake.1

In 2006, a number of these vipers were found in a wooded area near Poortugaal in the Netherlands. The species is not native there, so it was probably released or escaped.1

Asp vipers have been found at over 2,100 m above sea level in the Pyrenees, even though they are not strongly linked to high altitudes.1

The venom yield is relatively low. One study recorded a daily extraction of 9–10 mg.1