Vipera aspis
Silhouette: Alex Slavenko · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
Vipera aspis is a viper species found in southwestern Europe. Its common names include asp, asp viper, European asp, and aspic viper, among others. Like all other vipers, it is venomous. Bites from this species can be more severe than from the European adder, V. berus; not only can they be very painful, but approximately 4% of all untreated bites are fatal. The specific epithet, aspis, is a Greek word that means "viper." Five subspecies are currently recognized, including the nominate subspecies described here.
The species grows to an average total length of 60–65 centimetres (24–26 in). Males reach a maximum total length of 85 cm (33 in), females rarely more than 75 cm (30 in). Males, however, are a little slimmer than females. The tail is very short: one-seventh to one-ninth of total body length in females, and one-sixth to one-eighth in males.
The head is broad, triangular and quite distinct from the neck. The tip of the snout is slightly but distinctly upturned. The rostral scale is generally higher than it is wide, touching 2 to 3 scales on the upper side of the snout. Dorsally, the snout is flat with distinct and slightly raised sharp margins. The nasal scale... Wikipedia →
Recording0:02
Italy · 2001
© mauro_fioretto · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aigüestortes National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 2 | Mercantour National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 3 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Vanoise National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 5 | Ecrins National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 6 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 7 | Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barcelona Zoo | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 2 | Paris Zoological Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 3 | Indianapolis Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Aquarama Barcelona | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 5 | bioparco | 🇮🇹 Italy | |
| 6 | zoo delle Maitine | 🇮🇹 Italy | |
| 7 | Città della Domenica | 🇮🇹 Italy |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report an Asp Viper sighting in Cévennes National Park on a given day, based on 27 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 13th most-seen of the 18 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report an Asp Viper in Cévennes National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March, September and December–January, the lowest months. That is one of Cévennes National Park's wettest months, with about 170 mm of rain against 35 mm in July.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Asp Viper sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
6th of 7
Of the 7 parks where we can rate Asp Viper sightings, Cévennes National Park ranks 6th at about 20%. The best odds are in Aigüestortes National Park (Spain, about 40%), Mercantour National Park (France, about 30%) and Pyrénées National Park (France, about 30%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Asp Viper is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Cévennes National Park (27 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
