The Scanderan giant viper is with the lindorm, the wyvern, the sea wyrm, rotbesten and dragon one of the four giant reptiles that have adopted to the cold freezing climate of Scandera that is named "di six star retilerna!" or "the six great reptiles". In addition to that so is the giant viper one of the largest snakes on the planet with it's impressive 20 meters of length.

Etymology

Scanderan giant viper
	File:Orm.png
	painting of a giant viper next to a young girl
Conservation status
	; Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Family:	Viperidae
Genus:	Vipera
Species:	V.rex
Binomial name
	Vipera rex; Hylfred Görenssen, 1785
	File:Ormhabitat.png
	Habitat

The name comes from the fact that the giant viper is a viper and it is huge.

History

Historically so were the giant viper considered a highly dangerous animal and even today so is it seen as an animal best avoided entirely. However in the pre migration era so did Elven warriors that vished to prove themselves kill an a viper to join a so called snake warrior where the young warrior then made armour out of the skin of it's fallen prey and even used it's fangs as weapons.

This tradition were later on adopted and moddified by young Scanderan Lardins and huskarls alike that often did battle with the giant snakes to prove themselves and win fame and glory. Just like a man that killed a dragon could call himself "Drakbane" and a man that slew a wild wyvern called himself "Vyrmbane" as a title so did a slayer of a giant viper add the title "Ormbane" to his name.

Taxonomy

Just as most Scanderan large animals so were the viper given it's official latin name by Hylfred Görenssen. It was one of the many animals that were documented in his book "Di marklevande varelserna" or "the ground living animals" that were released in 1785.

Anatomy and health

File:SnakeSize.png

Size compared to a human

The giant snake is a viper with long poisonous teeth that can kill a mammoth in seconds. However so does the giant viper have a rather odd feature compared to other snakes as it has more teeth than just it's fangs and instead so is it's impressive jaws filled with long sharp teeth that can rip a prey apart. In addition to that so is the viper also very fast and can reach very high speeds over short distances as well as launch itself forward at extraordinary speeds to catch it's prey.

Reproduction

To reproduce so does a female give off a certain smell that alerts males that she wants to mate. The males then give chase by tracking the fleeing female and following her for days. During this time does the two engage in a odd courtship ritual when they lick one another with their tongues, lashing one another with their tales and crawls over one another. If a rival male finds the pair so does the two males engage in combat with one another about the right to mate and the weaker male withdraws either starting the courtship ritual all over again or allows the other male to continue his.

Females usually give birth in August or September, but sometimes as early as July, or as late as early October. Litters range in size from 2 to 5. A kid is often merely half a meter long at birth but is born with fully functioning venomous fangs and developed teeth, allowing the child to leave their mother and start to live on their own at birth.

Diet

The Viper is a carnivorous creature that preys mostly on large mammals like moose, deer, cows, bison, myskoxes, rhinos, mammoths, bears and even humans are things it often targets as it's prey.

Behaviour

The viper is a lonely creature that often prefers to hunt alone and often travels large distances in the night looking for prey while it in daytime mostly lies still and tries to absorb heat as much as possible. It is however said that it sleep with one eye open as it's good hearing helps it to discover threats and prey coming too close and it has not a problem with ambushes during the day to get some more food.

In the winter however so does the viper dig itself a large tunnel where it burrow itself down under ground to sleep through the winter. To be able to pull itself of so does it as other large reptiles goes into a so called "höst bärsärk" or "autumn rage" where it hunts down a massive amount of prey and even attack human settlements to help it sleep through the winter and especially roads are known to be made dangerous by a snake lying 15 meters or so away and then launching itself out of the thick under growth to attack a unsuspecting traveller.