Daboia russelii
Silhouette: Steven Traver · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
Russell's viper (Daboia russelii) is a species of highly venomous snake in the family Viperidae. The species is native to South Asia. It was described in 1797 by George Shaw and Frederick Polydore Nodder. It is named after Patrick Russell. Known for its extremely painful bite, it is considered one of the "Big Four" venomous snake species in the region.
Coluber russelii was the name proposed by George Shaw who described the species in 1797 based on a specimen presented to the British Museum by Patrick Russell. Russell described the species in 1796 and confirmed its highly venomous nature by experimenting on chickens and dogs. He added that the native people called it katuka retula poda.
Analysis of morphological and mitochondrial DNA data shows that the eastern subspecies of Russell's viper should be considered a separate species, Daboia siamensis. A number of other subspecies may be encountered in literature. including: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sinharaja Forest Reserve | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chandigarh | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Coimbatore | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Pune | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Bengaluru | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Kollam | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Kochi | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 8 | Hyderabad | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Mumbai | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nandankanan Zoological Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Indroda Nature Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Nehru Zoological Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Toledo Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Children's Park, Guindy | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Reptile Gardens | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Crocodile Bank | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Universeum | 🇸🇪 Sweden | |
| 11 | Parassinikkadavu Snake Park | 🇮🇳 India |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Russell's Viper sighting in Sinharaja Forest Reserve on a given day, based on 6 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 29th most-seen of the 32 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.
January and September
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Russell's Viper in Sinharaja Forest Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in March–August and October–December, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Russell's Viper sightings with a recorded time, and about half of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is seen both by day and at night.
Only Sinharaja Forest Reserve, in our data
Sinharaja Forest Reserve is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Russell's Viper sightings: about 20% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Viperidae
The closest relatives of the Russell's Viper that you can see in Sinharaja Forest Reserve (family Viperidae, Vipers) are Ceylon Pit Viper (about 80%) and Lowland Hump-nosed Viper (about 50%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Russell's Viper is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Sinharaja Forest Reserve (6 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.
