Some vipers are the sprinters of snakes.
Vipers wielded the fastest attacks in a comparison of 36 venomous snakes from three families, researchers report October 23 in Journal of Experimental Biology. And the quickest vipers tend to be ambush predators and feed on mammals. The terciopelo (Bothrops asper) — a viper found from eastern Mexico to northern South America that feeds on birds and rodents — came out on top with an average peak velocity of 3.5 meters per second.
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