第 0453 號，共 1 402 號

Broad-banded copperhead

Agkistrodon laticinctus

名字的由來： Agkistrodon comes from Greek words meaning 'hook' and 'tooth', for its fangs, and laticinctus is Latin for 'broad belt', for its wide bands.1

需要看醫生很少致命，但被咬了需要看醫生。

蝮蛇

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 broad-banded copperhead is a venomous pit viper, a type of snake that uses heat-sensing pits between its eyes and nostrils to find prey. It lives in the central United States, mainly Oklahoma and central Texas, and in parts of northern Mexico. For a long time it was thought to be a form of the eastern copperhead, but it is now treated as its own species.1

分布在

Oklahoma and central Texas in the USA, and the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Coahuila1

北美洲

首頁

It lives in lightly wooded areas with plenty of ground debris for cover, not far from a permanent water source. It is secretive and active at night, and it tends to avoid areas with many people.1

長度

45 cm 到 75 cm (1,5 ft 到 2,5 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 a diet generalist, but small rodents such as rats and mice make up most of what it eats. It is mainly an ambush predator that finds prey using smell, sight and heat. It usually bites larger prey and lets the venom work, but it holds birds and smaller prey until they die.1

Broad-banded copperhead 的照片 — Broad-banded copperhead。照片：Benjamin Genter。 CC0, Wikimedia Commons.

怎麼認出牠

Typically light tan with wide, darker brown crossbands, which give it its common name.1
Colour varies by location, from red-brown to grey-brown.1
The bands stay even in width. The eastern copperhead's bands narrow at the spine to form hourglass shapes.1
Young snakes have a bright green-yellow tail tip that fades to grey or brown at about one year old.1

常被誤認為： The eastern copperhead overlaps with this species in the south of its range, and the two can be hard to tell apart there. Look at the bands: the broad-banded copperhead has even bands, while the eastern copperhead's bands narrow at the spine.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 is hemotoxic, meaning it mainly damages blood and tissue. It is injected through hinged, hollow fangs in a single quick strike. The bite can cause localised swelling, necrosis (death of tissue at the bite site) and severe pain.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。

Copperhead venom is not considered life-threatening to an otherwise healthy adult. Any bite from a venomous snake should still be treated as serious.1

好消息：醫生有藥（抗毒血清）或治療方法。1

如果牠咬人

Any bite from a venomous snake should be treated as serious, and medical treatment should be sought. Doctors may use CroFab in severe cases, which is made using cottonmouth venom because no antivenin is made specifically for copperheads.1
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 4 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）

Broad-banded copperhead 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)

Broad-banded copperhead 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

It can swim across large bodies of water and has been found swimming more than a quarter of a mile from shore in Lake Texoma, Texas.1

In one radio tracking study, a snake was found with a Texas horned lizard inside it. The snake later passed the tracking device without harm.1

Although it is not tree-dwelling, it can climb and has been seen coiled and resting in trees about 2 metres above the ground.1

Some copperheads in Kansas are hybrids of the eastern and broad-banded copperheads. Genetic studies in that state found no genetically pure broad-banded copperheads.1

It is known by colourful local names, including thunder snake, rattlesnake pilot and red eye.1

破解迷思

迷思： Copperhead bites are harmless.

真相： A bite is not life-threatening to a healthy adult, but it can cause swelling, tissue death and severe pain. Any bite should be treated seriously and medical care sought.1

給毒液專家

學名: Agkistrodon laticinctus
類群: 蝮蛇
家人: Viperidae2
排序: Squamata
各大洲: 北美洲
寶寶: It gives birth to live young rather than laying eggs, with a litter of up to eight young in early fall.1
壽命: 大約 21 年1
對人的危險: 3 / 5: 嚴重3