First, let’s meet the sentinel and learn where it keeps watch. The viper is a snake that feeds on small birds, while the pizonia is a shrub that resembles our honeysuckle. They both live in Uganda, Africa.
The pizonia has a unique way of dispersing seeds. It shoots sticky seeds from its fruit like a tiny cannon. As soon as a bird brushes one of those fruits, the bird becomes completely covered in seeds. But the pizonia often goes too far. Startled by the first “artillery attack,” the bird flails, gets tangled in nearby fruits, and takes another barrage of sticky seeds.
That leaves the bird unable to fly, and it crashes to the ground near the bush. Waiting there is the viper. Sometimes it lies near the pizonia for weeks, biding its time for a meal.
Local hunters know these vipers’ habits well. If they need to catch one for a zoologist, they don’t set an ambush near a wild pizonia. Instead, they cut a bush and hang it from a tree in a convenient spot. The viper will come to investigate.
