Many-horned adder
Bitis cornuta (Daudin, 1803)
Status not recordedsnakes
The many-horned adder (Bitis cornuta) is a species in the family Viperidae, order Squamata.
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Quick facts about the many-horned adder
- Weight
- up to 225.6 g
- Length
- up to 75 cm
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 22 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- desert, shrubland
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Reproduction
- Live birth
- Active
- Day and night (cathemeral)
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the many-horned adder live?
Not recorded
Is the many-horned adder endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the many-horned adder classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classReptilia
- orderSquamata
- familyViperidae
- genusBitis
- SpeciesBitis cornuta (Daudin, 1803)
Synonyms Bitis cornuta cornuta, Vipera cornuta, Vipera lophophris
Other names and names in other languages (10)
- VeelhoringsmanAfrikaans
- zmije mnohoroháCzech
- Mangehornet PuffadderDanish
- BüschelbrauenotterGerman
- sokszarvú puffogóviperaHungarian
- Vipera dalle molte cornaItalian
- エダツノアダーJapanese
- Пучкобровая гадюкаRussian
- 角膨蝰Chinese
- VeelhoringadderAfrikaans
Relatives of the many-horned adder
Other species in the same genus Bitis.

Gaboon viper
Bitis gabonica

Puff adder
Bitis arietans
Rhinoceros viper
Bitis nasicornis
Dwarf puff adder
Bitis peringueyi
Namaqua puff adder
Bitis schneideri
Horned adder
Bitis caudalis
CompareMany-horned adder vs Gaboon viperMany-horned adder vs Puff adderMany-horned adder vs Rhinoceros viperMany-horned adder vs Dwarf puff adder
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
What kind of animal is the many-horned adder?
The many-horned adder (Bitis cornuta) belongs to the family Viperidae in the order Squamata.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits · CC BY 4.0 · v1
Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Shirey, V., Larsen, E., Doherty, A. et al. (2022) LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits. Scientific Data 9: 382. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01473-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19874602.v1 - Northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits (raw datasets) · CC BY 4.0 · 2024-12-17
Logghe, G., Batsleer, F., Maes, D. et al. (2025) An in-depth dataset of northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e146785. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e146785. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13379714 - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4 - Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits · CC BY 4.0 · 1.0-2022-06-17
Mull, C.G., Pacoureau, N., Pardo, S.A. et al. (2022) Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits and abundance time-series. Scientific Data 9: 559. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01655-1. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6656525 - SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0-dryad-v5
Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b - TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe · CC BY 4.0 · 2.0
Chauvier, Y., Adde, A., Bergamini, A. et al. (2025) TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15063844 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Many-horned adder (Bitis cornuta). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/many-horned-adder
“Many-horned adder (Bitis cornuta).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/many-horned-adder.
@misc{many_horned_adder_2026,
title = {Many-horned adder (Bitis cornuta)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/many-horned-adder},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}