Vipera Berus pic

[roeskva]

Vipera berus is the common European adder or common European viper. This picture was taken by Jonas Arvidsson - a member of our local herpetology society, and I thought people would enjoy it here. It's a real photo, not a manip - the adders come out of hibernation while there are still snow on the ground (in Umeå, in late March), and in sunny weather they crawl through the snow to find rocks they can sun themselves on. They live as far north as at least 150 kilometer north of the polar circle (where the adders are twice the size of what they are further south!)

Comments

[chagrined]

Wow, that is a really lovely picture! And such interesting information! :D Thank you for sharing.

[mylia]

Great picture.

Again makes me sad that we have so few native reptiles around here (Nova-Scotia).

[roeskva]

Yeah, there are few native reptiles when you are far to the north.
Aside from the European Adder, we have something that is called the "Northern Lizard" up here, and the north limit of its range is further south than the adder.
The grass snake (natrix natrix) also has its north limit just around here (Umeå), or maybe a little further south, so we have a total of three native reptile species. As well, we have a couple of frog species, but there are few amphibians as well. It's just too cold most of the year.

[yvi]

Oh, wonderful picture and very interesting animal. Thanks for sharing!