BOOMSLANG

A Male Boomslang

So you think beauty is an exclusive  privilege for the female alone ?!! One look at the male Boomslang and you would be thinking again! These gorgeous creatures are light green in colour with a small , slender body , an egg shaped head and 2 unusually large eyes . The female of the species is usually brown in colour. The length ranges between 3-5 feet. 

A Female Boomslang

But beauty can be real dangerous too! For one bite from these snakes can land a normal , healthy adult bleeding to death from every orifice in his body within a span of 24 hours. The venom of a Boomslang contains hemotoxin which prevents blood from clotting resulting in uncontrollable bleeding and eventual death. Once bitten, the venom takes a considerably long  time to start acting which causes many to often misjudge the seriousness of the bite. However, if antivenom is given in time, a person can be saved. 

A boomslang with its inflated neck

A boomslang is normally a timid creature biting only when it is being attacked .When threatened, they inflate their neck to double the size , take up an S shape and starts striking. 

They are exclusively found in trees and feed on other small arboreal creatures like chameleons and birds .  When faced with a prey bigger than their own size, they would escape rather than hunt. Making up for its lack of aggression, however, is its excellent eyesight . Unlike most other snakes, they have colour vision which causes them to spot out even a chameleon.

These snakes majorly populate the Sub Saharan part of Africa.