Snakes of Morocco
Above photo is of a puff adder, common in Moroco (wikipedia: Julius Rückert). See also Reptiles of Morocco.
Excellent trip reports on Moroccan snakes:
We travelled to Morocco in the ferry the day Friday 14 August from Algeciras to Tanger. We drove to Marrakech to sleep. Next day (15) we woke up and drove to Agadir and we made only one quick stop when we saw a Hemorrhois hippocrepis road killed and we only found some Saurodactylus brosseti under stones and a subadult Agama impalearis
http://fieldherping.eu/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=381
Snake-charming has, of a course, long been associated with Morocco and North Africa. The species most frequently employed are Egyptian cobras (Naja haje), vipers (Vipera lebetina) and the puff-adder (Bitis arietans). Snake charmers usually appear at the main open-air markets, or souks, and rapidly gather a large crowd. Contrary to popular belief, this is not usually an activity aimed primarily at tourists, except in coastal resorts or in major tourist destinations. Modern-day snake charmers usually employ a battery-operated public address system through which they exhort their audience to purchase small pamphlets containing magic formulae for protection from snake-bite or other magical charms. The audience is regularly challenged to step forward and approach the snakes; “25 Dirhams if anyone dares to touch these dangerous snakes!”. Despite 25 Dirhams (approximately $3) being equivalent to a day’s wages for many, this offer is never taken up. More snakes are produced from a series of boxes or sacks, are roughly handled by the charmer and his family, and once again the effectiveness of the spells in the booklet being sold is loudly advertised. An assistant moves within the crowd gathering handfuls of money in exchange for the book.
The Atlas Mountain Viper (Vipera monticola) is endemic to Morocco.
Only a few distribution spots on the High Atlas in Morocco. valleys at the northern side of the mountains between 2.100 and 3.000 meters.
Venemous snakes of Morocco
- Androctonus aeneas
- Androctonus amoreuxi
- Androctonus australis
- Androctonus crassicauda
- Androctonus mauretanicus
- Androctonus sergenti
- Bitis arietans
- Buthacus arenicola
- Buthus occitanus
- Cerastes cerastes
- Cerastes vipera
- Echis leucogaster
- Latrodectus tredecimguttatus
- Loxosceles rufescens
- Macroprotodon cucullatus
- Macrovipera deserti
- Macrovipera lebetina
- Macrovipera mauritanica
- Malpolon monspessulanus
- Naja haje
- Scorpio maurus
- Scorpio maurus palmatus
- Vipera latastei
- Vipera monticola
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