Vipera darevskii  is a venomous viper which can only be found in northwestern Armenia and northeastern Turkey. The viper is named after Ilya Darevsky, who was one of the first to find and identify the species. Due to the destruction of its natural habitat from overgrazing by domestic animals, the numbers of Darevsky’s vipers are on the decline. At last count there were only about 500 individuals left in the wild, placing this snake on the brink of extinction.

On top of that, its range is severely fragmented, with small pockets of snakes spread over a wide area. This viper’s diet consists mainly of lizards, rodents, and the occasional insect. Darevsky’s viper lives primarily at high altitudes on mountain ridges and spends part of its day basking in the Sun in order to acquire enough heat to operate during the day. These snakes display sexual dimorphism, meaning that the females are significantly larger than males.