ENVENOMATIONS - Medicine for Mountaineering and Other Wilderness Activities - page 492

in India and Pakistan; the tiger snake of Australia; the death adder of Australia and New
Guinea; the Indian king cobra, which occurs in most of Southeast Asia, including Indone-
sia and Formosa, and reportedly is responsible for more deaths than any other species; the
mamba of East Africa; and the ringhals of South Africa.
The Viperidae include the puff adder found in most of Africa and southern Arabia;
the saw-scaled viper that occurs from northern and western Africa to northern India; the
PalestineviperoftheMiddleEast;andtheRussell'sviperfoundfromwestPakistantoFor-
mosa. No members of this family are found in North America or South America.
The Crotalidae are of major importance in North America and South America. They
include all the North American rattlesnakes; the copperheads and cottonmouth moccasins;
the fer-de-lance and neotropical rattlesnakes found from Mexico to Argentina; the bush-
master found from Costa Rica to the Amazon River basin; and the habu that occurs in the
Ryukyu Islands of Japan, along with closely related species in Formosa and the southeast-
ern part of the People's Republic of China.
Identification of Venomous Snakes in the United States
ThevenomoussnakesoftheUnitedStatesaretherattlesnakes,thecopperheads,thecot-
tonmouth or water moccasin, and the coral snakes. All U.S. venomous snakes except the
coral snakes are pit vipers and have a characteristic triangular head and heavy body. The
bodymarkings are sufficiently unique forspecies identification byinexperienced individu-
als for only a few of the rattlesnakes.
These snakes are called pit vipers because they have a small pit located between the eye
and the nostril—a feature found only in these venomous species—that is an infrared-sens-
ing organ instrumental in detecting the small, warm-blooded animals these snakes eat ( Fig.
33-1 ) . The pit vipers are also characterized by single scales reaching across the undersur-
face of the body posterior to the anus. Most other snakes have double scales ( Fig. 33-2 ).
If fangs are present, a snake is undoubtedly venomous, but searching for fangs is a haz-
ardous venture. The fangs may be folded back against the roof of the mouth, which makes
them difficult to identify. One or both fangs may be broken off; three or four are occasion-
ally found. Rattles are of obvious significance, but the absence of rattles is not, because
sometimes they also may have broken off. The Catalina Island rattlesnake sheds its rattles
with its skin and never has more than one.
Coral snakes are small, thin, brightly colored snakes with small heads and are quite dif-
ferent from the pit vipers. Adjacent red and yellow bands identify them. The nonvenom-
ous king snakes and other harmless species with similar coloration have adjacent red and
blackbands.Ahelpfulmnemonicis “Red and yellow—kill a fellow; red and black—venom
lack.”