What species of viper is this? I think that the snake in the pictures here below is a viper. I found it on a hiking trail on a mountain in Bulgaria. Height was about 2000 meters and the weather wasn't warm as you might expect in a late Spring days, but it seemed quite active. If it really is a viper what species of viper? Otherwise what could it be? ![enter image description here]( ![enter image description here](

This is most likely the common European adder ( _Vipera beris_ ). A list of the reptiles of Bulgaria lists it as occurring in the mountains of Bulgaria up to 2700 metres.

There are a couple of other contenders in the list of vipers, but two of them are incredibly rare (not found since the 1930's) and the last is the horned viper ( _Vipera ammodytes_ ), which has distinctive horns on the tip of its nose.