A is any of four species of venomous snakes found in the Ryukyu Islands, Japan. The habus are all pit vipers that belong to the genus Trimeresurus whose other members are found throughout southeast Asia. Four species have the name habu:
Snakes living on different islands of Okinawa prefecture have slightly different features. The habus are believed to have migrated to Okinawa over a prehistoric land bridge connecting the island to China.
Habus are usually not aggressive; however they will bite if provoked. If one is bitten, it is excruciatingly painful and fatalities were not rare on Okinawa, though fatalities have been controlled on the Ryukyu islands. As in other places in 1910 the mongoose was introduced from India into Okinawa to control the population of habus but recent studies indicate that since the habu is nocturnal and the mongoose active during the day, mongooses have not interfered with the habu, but instead prey upon other protected rare species of birds and reptiles.
The habu does not properly hibernate during the winter, but is more active from April to late autumn. Okinawa residents are advised to keep weeds trimmed and avoid loose lumber close to their dwellings, or anything else that could attract the rodents upon which the habu feed.
