Comprehensive and well-illustrated reference, with chapters on: Origins, Biogeography and Classification The Vipers' Environment Habits and Behaviour Working with Vipers Species Accounts The book reflects the author's decades of experience of vipers in much of the Old World, as well as in captivity. The species accounts illustrate the diversity of Old World Vipers, while providing important information on distribution, taxonomy, behaviour and ecology. David Warrell's chapter on viperid envenoming is a reminder of how snake-human encounters can often end in tragedy.