Water horrors Bashny.Net

Water alone, or as it is called in the people - "Chess viper" is often found in the neighborhood of an ordinary snake and lives close to both flow and no flow of water bodies. His appearance on the beach quite often raises the very real panic among travelers. People just get out on the land, and the fate of the troublemaker, alas is sometimes unenviable. I suggest you learn some interesting facts about this snake.




- What are you, a viper take pictures - I heard a voice behind him - look, in order not bitten.

- No, not a viper and snake - I said, not looking up from the camera viewfinder and taking another close-up.

- Yes viper is now crossed with Adders: obtained and black, and gray, and in the box, and all the terribly poisonous!









About the dialogue takes place every time someone sees me catch or photograph water snakes



The notoriety of these snakes is only the fruit of fear of people who are not familiar with reptiles. Water snakes lack the characteristic feature non-poisonous snakes, familiar to everyone - yellow-orange spots at the back of the head, which are in the common grass snake (Natrix natrix). For this reason, people are unaware of all the snakes without such spots attributed to vipers and poisonous and dangerous feel. Many share of limbless reptiles and snakes on a "snake", referring to the Vipers. And they say, "And that's a snake or?».



Once the do not call water snakes, "a hybrid viper and snake", "viper chess", "checkerboard". With cries of "snake chess" bathers on the beach jump out of the water and wait for the kite float away, or until there is a "brave" and not kill a snake with a stick. We often hear stories of anglers' meter Viper "swimming across a river or climb into the cages with fish.

All these stories are not really connected with the vipers they are about water snakes. The specific name of the snake N. tessellata really translates from Latin as chess, but vipers water snake has nothing to do. It belongs to the genus alone (Natrix sp.) As the grass snake.



For a man harmless water snake. Remedies of this snake - a loud hiss and foul-smelling feces allocated at risk. Unlike an ordinary snake, the water almost never pretends to be dead.



The main water snakes food - fish, which they catch among aquatic plants, driftwood, or lying in wait, lying on the bottom. Snake can not swallow caught prey underwater, so the rush to the shore where the fish swallows the previously expanding her head to him.



If the prey is too large, the meal can last for hours or even longer. Some snakes are killed, not by calculating the forces and the big fish too.



"Water too is widely distributed from the south-western France, the river valley. Rhine in the west, the southern border of the area passes through the eastern part of North Africa (to the Persian Gulf, Pakistan), in the east is found to the north-west of China, and the northern limits of the occupied territory go through the Volga-Kama region ", - says the candidate of biological sciences, employee Volgograd State University herpetologist Dmitry Gordeev.

"This species belongs to the class of reptiles (Reptilia), detachment snakes (Serpentes), colubridae family (Colubridae), the real nature of snakes (Natrix) and mean water snake (Natrix tessellata). Water alone - a relatively large non-poisonous, as all members of the family, the snake. Moreover, females are generally longer than males and can grow up to 1 1 m. In spite of the impressive size, it is somewhat smaller than usual, and we easily identifiable ordinary snake, which may reach up to 1, 14 m.

Muzzle water snake, compared with ordinary, more pointed, and on each side of the head there is no yellow-orange spots. Due to the latter that it is often confused with poisonous snakes such as vipers and plain steppe viper. "Fuel to the fire" pattern on the back adds a water snake, which is vaguely reminiscent of a zigzag band of vipers. I often come across dead snakes, which, apparently, the local population has taken over toxic and mercilessly exterminated. In one of the missions I met a place of "mass executions", which counted 25 killed "chess Vipers».



However, the water snake has a number of external signs by which it can be easily distinguished from the poisonous vipers. The most recognizable head - the Viper it a triangular shape and most of the boards (flake) on her small, whereas in the water snake it is oval, and all shields large. If you have the courage to look into the eyes of a snake, you can see that the vipers, like real predators, pupil vertical (like a cat), while the snake - round. In addition, viper snakes much smaller: the largest adder reaches a length of up to 0, 73 m.



Water alone settles near water: on the banks of rivers and irrigation canals, on flood plains, where he is currently living. Despite the peaceful nature, he is an active predator. It prefers different types of fish - perch, roach, loach, can even hunt for pike. Therefore, scientists call it Ichthyophagi. Catch prey kite pulls to shore, where he eats. Much less in the diet includes frogs and tadpoles.

In the literature there are reports about the discovery of a baby in the stomach of even common viper! Dimensions victims may exceed the size of the snake's head and swallow it helps flexible joint and several lower jaw bones, associated with them. Ingestion takes place alternately moving the left, then the right half of the mandible. From this it seems that the snake "crawls" on its prey.



Active season lasts almost 9 months, emerge from the winter shelter in April. Shortly thereafter, begins pairing, then snakes abound. One female can lay from 4 to 20 eggs, of which, in July, in favorable circumstances appear young. They serve as a refuge for the reeds, roots of trees, crevices substrate, rodent burrows, tree stumps and snags. Hibernation starts in late October in large groups, sometimes with an ordinary snake. They hunt snakes to hedgehogs, muskrat, muskrat, fox, some birds: osprey, gray heron, kites, serpent eagle, crow, rook, and some other ».

Every time I hear mention of the "terrible poisonous checkerboard" I talk about water Uzhakhov, their way of life, trying to convince that these snakes are absolutely safe. But whenever faced with a lack of understanding, it is easier for people to be afraid of "chess viper" than admit their belief in rumors and stop killing all the snakes, which are devoid of "unmarked" ordinary snake.



Source: shinkarenkostas.livejournal.com