Photograph by Paula HoeppnerPost by Frances Gillespie
Members of the Qatar Natural History Group on a tour of the north-western forts one Friday in late October encountered a small Horned Viper which emerged from beneath the wall of Al Rakiyat fort.
One British family had just sat down beside the wall to have a picnic when the snake was spotted adopting an aggressive stance, i.e. coiled up ready to strike, within a couple of feet of their eight-year-old son.
He quickly scrambled to his feet and no harm was done, but it was a timely reminder that although the chances of being bitten by a snake or stung by a scorpion in Qatar are very rare, nevertheless it is a possibility.
The Horned Viper
The Horned Viper [cerastes cerastes gasperetti] is also known as a Sand Viper. It does not always have horns above the eyes -- the specimen mentioned above had none.
It may well be the only truly poisonous snake in Qatar, and is far less dangerous than its relative the Saw-scaled Viper which is found in the UAE and Oman. It is not an aggressive animal, but any creature will defend itself if it feels threatened.
Although quite common and widely distributed it is rarely seen; people exploring the desert are far more likely to come across its curious side-winding tracks, a series of shallow S-shaped lines on loose sand or on the surface of dunes.
Update: This post has now been picked up by the Peninsula newspaper in their story Horned Viper spotted in Qatari desert - it is worth noting, though, that the Horned Viper, though rarely seen, is not rare.
Many thanks to Frances Gillespie for this post
Also see:
An Introduction to Qatar's Natural History by the same writer
A video of a captive horned viper:
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