Skip to Main Content
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance logo
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Library logo

Mangshan Pit Viper (Protobothrops mangshanensis) Fact Sheet: Behavior & Ecology

Mangshan Pit Viper (Protobothrops mangshanensis)

Update in Progress

Dear Readers,

This fact sheet, like a snake, is about to slough its skin. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is working to bring you an updated version of the Mangshan Pit Viper Fact Sheet with new science and conservation information. Thanks for your patience, as we crawl among the treetops (yes, this pit viper climbs very well) to bring you new facts. Please check back soon. SDZWA team members can email questions to library@sdzwa.org.

Activity Cycle

  • Largely inactive

Movements and dispersal

  • Territory/range size unknown
  • Regularly encountered by locals in its habitat

Communication

Displays

  •  Open mouth "gaping" when agitated (Boyer 2010)

Vocalizations

  •  Snakes do not vocalize but they do hiss. (Ernst & Zug 1996)

Agonistic Behavior and Defense

Aggression

  • Shy, calm
  • Females known to aggressively nest guard their eggs. (Boyer 2010)
  • Male/male combat known during mating season for some species of pit vipers: (Duvall et al 1992)
    • Seen in North American prairie rattlesnake

Territorial Behavior

  • Unknown

Interspecies Interactions

  • Few predators pose a threat
  • Hunted for meat by humans (Boyer 2010)

Locomotion

  • Travel with rectilinear locomotion 
    • Used by heavy bodied snake species such as pythons, boas, and heavy vipers
    • Muscles on ribs attach to skin; elastic skin lifts snake's body forward in waves similar to an earthworm's crawl (Bogert 1947) (Lissmann 1950)
    • Useful when stealthily pursuing prey, crawling into tight spaces; motion is hard to detect
    • New advances in mobile robotics have used this style of locomotion for inspiration (Ghanbari 2008)
  • Also crawl with lateral undulation
    • Muscles activate in sequence from head to tail
    • Most common locomotion style for snakes
  • Can crawl into trees

Snake Personality

Mangshan pit viper coiled and resting

The Mangshan pit viper is a shy, forest-dwelling snake. Little is known about its behavior.

Image credit: © San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. All rights reserved. Note: This is a cropped image.

Page Citations

Bogert (1947)
Boyer (2010)
Duvall et al. (1992)
Ernst & Zug (1996)
Lissmann (1950)

SDZWA Library Links