第 0454 號，共 1 402 號

Florida cottonmouth

Agkistrodon conanti

名字的由來： It is named in honour of Roger Conant, a herpetologist (reptile and amphibian scientist) and friend of the scientist who first described it.1

需要看醫生很少致命，但被咬了需要看醫生。

蝮蛇

咬

對人的危險: 嚴重被咬了需要看醫生。死亡案例非常罕見。

The Florida cottonmouth is a thick-bodied venomous pit viper that lives in the southeastern United States. It is found in wetlands across Florida and southern Georgia, including on some offshore islands. It matters because its venom can be lethal, and it is often mistaken for harmless watersnakes.1

分布在

Southeastern United States: the Florida peninsula, including the Florida Keys as far as Big Pine Key, and southern Georgia1

北美洲

首頁

It lives in nearly every type of wetland in its range, including brackish water, cypress ponds and wet prairies. It is occasionally found up to 1.6 km from surface water, and in some areas it is seen in wet pine and palmetto areas. It tends to gather around drying water holes, where prey is concentrated.1

長度

76 cm 到 1,9 m (2,5 ft 到 6,2 ft)1

體重

4,6 kg (10 lb)1

最高速度

大約 3,6 km/h（2,2 mph）

在陸地上, 粗略估計

Florida cottonmouth 的照片 — Florida cottonmouth。照片：William J. Deml。 CC BY 4.0, iNaturalist.

怎麼認出牠

Adults are usually 76 to 122 cm long, with a thick body and a broad head.1
The head has bold black stripes on each side of the cheeks, edged above and below with light cream or white lines.1
The body is olive brown, dark brown or black, with 10 to 17 dark bands. Adults often grow darker and their bands can be faint or absent.1
Newborns and young snakes are clay-red or 'red dirt' in colour, with the same pattern as adults.1
A pair of dark vertical lines runs down the tip of the snout.1

常被誤認為： It is often confused with harmless watersnakes (Nerodia) and other semi-aquatic snakes that share its habitat. The Florida cottonmouth has a longer tail, with a relative tail length of about 17.4% in adult and subadult males. Its head markings are lighter, cleaner and more sharply defined, even in older snakes.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 very hemolytic, meaning it destroys red blood cells. It also causes relatively extensive necrosis, which is death of body tissue, compared with many other snake venoms. Its venom can sometimes be lethal.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。

The venom can sometimes be lethal, with a 17% mortality rate.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？

牠有多重？

跟 1 隻家貓一樣重

跟 4 隻家貓從鼻子接到尾巴一樣長跟 10 根香蕉頭尾相接一樣長大約跟一隻家貓一樣重可以在 100 秒內跑完 100 公尺（最快的人類需要 9.6 秒）

Florida cottonmouth 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)

Florida cottonmouth 大約 3,6 km/h (2,2 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 has more than 20 colloquial names, including water moccasin, pond moccasin, swamp lion and water rattlesnake.1

The largest recorded specimen, from Marion County, Florida, weighed 4.6 kg.1

Females usually breed only every other year.1

破解迷思

迷思： It is a harmless watersnake.

真相： It is a venomous pit viper. Its venom can be lethal, and it is easily confused with harmless watersnakes.1

給毒液專家

學名: Agkistrodon conanti
類群: 蝮蛇
家人: Viperidae2
排序: Squamata
各大洲: 北美洲
寶寶: It gives birth to live young (ovoviviparous), usually 6 to 8 per litter, with a range of 1 to 15. Newborns average 18 cm long.1
對人的危險: 3 / 5: 嚴重3