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Field's horned viper

Tingle reprints Mendelssohn 1965: 0.808 mph (1.3 km/h) for Pseudocerastes fieldi on a serpentarium floor at 30 C, apparently one trial each.

A field's horned viper can travel about 0.808 mph (1.3 km/h), an estimate.

Also known as Pseudocerastes fieldi
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Top speed

Published as 1.3 km/hPublished as 1.3 km/hPublished as 1.3 km/h

Jessica L. Tingle 2020, Integrative and Comparative Biology, Table 3 and the travel-speed discussion. Pseudocerastes fieldi is 0.808 mph (1.3 km/h). Trials on a serpentarium floor at 30 C, two individuals, apparently one trial each. Mendelssohn 1965. Qualifier estimated. Travel, not a strike.

EstimatedIntegrative and Comparative Biology (opens source in a new tab)

In context

  • 26% of walking paceConstant · A typical walking pace, 5 km/h
  • 3.5% of Usain Bolt's 100 m world-record paceSourced · Usain Bolt, 100 m in 9.58 s. World Athletics, Berlin 2009. Averaged over the race
  • A football field in 4 minConstant · American football field, 100 yd (91.44 m)

Worked out from the sourced figure above, which stays the ranked number.

Quick answers

People also ask

How fast can a field's horned viper travel?

A field's horned viper can travel about 0.808 mph (1.3 km/h), an estimate.

Is that figure claimed or verified?

Field's horned viper is labeled Estimated. Calculated or approximated rather than directly timed.

What is the source?

The figure cites Integrative and Comparative Biology, “Facultatively sidewinding snakes, Table 3, Field's horned viper.”

Where does Field's horned viper rank?

Field's horned viper is 5th of 7 on Fastest Snakes.

Mechanism

Why it's so fast

Tingle reprints Mendelssohn 1965: about 0.8 mph (1.3 km/h) for Field's horned viper, Pseudocerastes fieldi, on a serpentarium floor at 30°C, apparently one trial each.

Species
Pseudocerastes fieldi
Speed
0.808 mph (1.3 km/h)
Trial
Floor, 30°C

  1. One trial on a floor

    The 0.808 mph (1.3 km/h) figure is a serpentarium floor at 30°C, and Tingle reads Mendelssohn as about one trial each. That is a narrow measurement. The horned adder's 3.4 mph (5.5 km/h) has no conditions. This one has conditions and almost no replication.

  2. Slow, and specific

    0.808 mph (1.3 km/h) is the one that countsed locomotion speed. It is not a strike. The painted saw-scaled viper from the same 1965 paper is 0.684 mph (1.1 km/h). The two stay separate.

Provenance

Every measurement

Claimed, measured and official figures side by side, each with its source. The ranked figure is marked.

  1. 1.3km/h0.808mph0.361m/s0.702knRanked figure

    Jessica L. Tingle 2020, Integrative and Comparative Biology, Table 3 and the travel-speed discussion. Pseudocerastes fieldi is 0.808 mph (1.3 km/h). Trials on a serpentarium floor at 30 C, two individuals, apparently one trial each. Mendelssohn 1965. Qualifier estimated. Travel, not a strike.

    One trial each is a thin sample. The rank still uses the 0.808 mph (1.3 km/h) the table says.

    Estimated
    Integrative and Comparative Biology (opens source in a new tab)

Reference

Specs

Species
Pseudocerastes fieldi
Speed
0.808 mph (1.3 km/h)
Trial
Serpentarium floor, 30 C, Mendelssohn 1965

Context

Background

Tingle's Table 3 says 0.808 mph (1.3 km/h) for Pseudocerastes fieldi and attributes it to Mendelssohn 1965: a serpentarium floor at 30 C, two individuals, apparently one trial each. The figure is 0.808 mph (1.3 km/h), qualifier estimated, because the sample is that thin.

The number is travel across the floor. A strike is not in the cell.

Head to head

Compare Field's horned viper

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