Gyurza - a dangerous snake, but with a valuable poison for medicine

Gyurza - a snake, belonging to the family of viper. It is a large muscular reptile, reaching a length of 1.4 m and more. Its muzzle is blunt, the temporal corners sharply protrude. On the top of the head there are ribbed scales that decrease towards the eyes. The body is thick, kurguzoe, in gray-brown tones. A number of dark brown cross-stretched spots pass along the back, and on the sides there are a number of smaller similar marks. The underside of the body is lighter than the upper and also with spots. This is the appearance of the snake gyurza. The photo shows it well. Occasionally there are monotonous individuals. Males are usually larger than females.

According to the official classification, this reptile is called the Levant viper. It dwells in India, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Mediterranean countries, Turkey, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Central Asia and Transcaucasia. Gyurza, and sometimes "the grave snake", it is called only in the last two places mentioned. She settles in dry foothills, gorges of mountains, in valleys of rivers, as well as in vineyards and on the outskirts of villages. Her cultivated land does not scare her at all.

Gyurza is a poisonous snake with a powerful poison. Its teeth are long, slightly curved, parallel to the sky. When the mouth opens, the teeth, straightening, become almost perpendicular to the sky. Jaws jaws are movable and teeth can also be advanced forward. The snake bites like a dagger blow.

The bite of a gurza for a person is dangerous, because it acts on the blood, destroying the walls of blood vessels and red blood cells. Measures for the introduction of antivenom whey should be taken immediately. Otherwise, a fainting condition occurs, and sometimes death occurs.

Gyurza - the snake is quite brave, especially if it is forced to protect its own life. She does not attack people first. Similarly to all the viper, the gyurza, when meeting a person, prefers to crawl away or, curled up in rings, wait for the moment when it is possible to hide. If the meeting happened suddenly, she would attack with lightning speed, without warning either with hissing or pose.

Unlike representatives of this family, eagerly eats small birds and chicks gyurza. The snake for this is taken to a tree or a bush, hides in the foliage and waits for prey. Catching a bird, she bites it and, holding it in her mouth, waits until she ceases to twitch, and then swallows it. In the case of hunting on the ground, the gyurza behaves differently. She bites the victim (lizard, rodent, etc.) and crawls to the side, waiting for the action of the poison. Waiting to last a short, a minute or a little more. The direction of movement of the victim of a gurza determines the feeling of the soil by the tongue. Then she creeps up and swallows the prey. Hungry giurza can attack chickens of poultry. Moreover, in the excitement of hunting, she can break into the yard, not embarrassed by the presence of people, and does not always back off when they try to drive her away.

Gyurza - the migrating snake: its activity depends on the temperature of the soil. After the winter hibernation in the crevices of the rocks, where they gather a lot, the snakes creep around the area. In the spring they are active during the day, and in the summer - at night. With the establishment of hot weather, snakes descend below, closer to the water, where you can drink, swim, and hunt birds that fly to the watering place. With a cold snap, they again become diurnal inhabitants, up to the occurrence of hibernation.

Mating occurs at the beginning of May, and the young grows in the beginning of autumn. Surprisingly, in Central Asia giurz lay eggs, and the embryos in them are well developed and snakes appear in about 40 days. In other places snakes are born in a dense shell, from which they are released within an hour.

Despite the harm and danger that can cause giurza, its poison is very much appreciated and widely used in medicine.