It is one of the few rattlesnakes that inhabit South America. Migrating from the North, when the Isthmus of Panama was formed, like much of this continent’s fauna, it found its ecological niche and differentiated as a species in the dense Venezuelan jungle.

Despite its small size, it possesses one of the most potent venoms of all rattlesnakes and, of course, enough to kill an adult man who ignores the warning of danger from its vibrating rattle.

Of preferentially nocturnal habits, its heat-sensing pits allow it to hunt small rodents in the gloom, when these prey cannot see it.