Portal:Snakes

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The Snake Portal

Pope's pit viper (Trimeresurus popeiorum)

Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (/sɜːrˈpɛntiːz/). Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints than their lizard ancestors, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads (cranial kinesis). To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most have only one functional lung. Some species retain a pelvic girdle with a pair of vestigial claws on either side of the cloaca. Lizards have independently evolved elongate bodies without limbs or with greatly reduced limbs at least twenty-five times via convergent evolution, leading to many lineages of legless lizards. These resemble snakes, but several common groups of legless lizards have eyelids and external ears, which snakes lack, although this rule is not universal (see Amphisbaenia, Dibamidae, and Pygopodidae).

Living snakes are found on every continent except Antarctica, and on most smaller land masses; exceptions include some large islands, such as Ireland, Iceland, Greenland, and the islands of New Zealand, as well as many small islands of the Atlantic and central Pacific oceans. Additionally, sea snakes are widespread throughout the Indian and Pacific oceans. Around thirty families are currently recognized, comprising about 520 genera and about 3,900 species. They range in size from the tiny, 10.4 cm-long (4.1 in) Barbados threadsnake to the reticulated python of 6.95 meters (22.8 ft) in length. The fossil species Titanoboa cerrejonensis was 12.8 meters (42 ft) long. Snakes are thought to have evolved from either burrowing or aquatic lizards, perhaps during the Jurassic period, with the earliest known fossils dating to between 143 and 167 Ma ago. The diversity of modern snakes appeared during the Paleocene epoch (c. 66 to 56 Ma ago, after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event). The oldest preserved descriptions of snakes can be found in the Brooklyn Papyrus. (Full article...)

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Adult female (note the thick body)

The Central African rock python (Python sebae) is a species of large constrictor snake in the family Pythonidae. The species is native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of 10 living species in the genus Python.

Africa's largest snake and one of the eight largest snake species in the world (along with the green anaconda, reticulated python, Burmese python, Southern African rock python, Indian python, yellow anaconda and Australian scrub python), specimens may approach or exceed 6 m (20 ft). The southern species is generally smaller than its northern relative but in general, the Central African rock python is regarded as one of the longest species of snake in the world. The snake is found in a variety of habitats, from forests to near deserts, although usually near sources of water. The snake becomes dormant during the dry season. The Central African rock python kills its prey by constriction and often eats animals up to the size of antelope, occasionally even crocodiles. The snake reproduces by egg-laying. Unlike most snakes, the female protects her nest and sometimes even her hatchlings. (Full article...)

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... that the Maloja Wind in Switzerland can produce a narrow and elongated low-lying cloud known as the "Maloja Snake"?
... that the Voice of Freedom had to counter venomous snakes, leeches, and other wildlife?
... that salt marsh snakes drink only rainwater?
... that Vanita Jagdeo Borade has been called the "snake woman" for having rescued more than 50,000 snakes?
... that following the introduction of the round goby to Lake Erie, the Lake Erie watersnake's population recovered enough to be removed from the U.S. threatened species list?
... that the manga series Reptilia was inspired in part by a story from Japanese folklore about a woman who is transformed into a snake, told to author Kazuo Umezu as a child?

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... that the Honduran milk snake's color resemblance to the coral snake, known as Batesian mimicry, helps protect it from potential predators?
...that the range of Nelson's Milksnake (Albino specimen pictured) from Mexico is linked to watercourses, and that it was thought to be the same subspecies as the more common Sinaloan Milksnake until 1978?
... that forest cobras (pictured) can grow up to 2.7 metres (8.9 feet) and kill in 20 minutes?
... that Dubois' seasnake is one of at least seventeen sea snake species living in the Coral Sea, and has the world's most toxic sea snake venom?
... that Lycodon chrysoprateros, a snake species endemic to the Philippines, is considered critically endangered because its range is only 52 square kilometres (20 sq mi)?

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Quality Content

Featured snake-related articles - George Went Hensley - List of snakes of Trinidad and Tobago
Good snake-related articles - Agkistrodon piscivorus - Bitis arietans - Bitis gabonica - Black mamba - Black-necked spitting cobra - Eastern green mamba - Forest cobra - Hydrophiinae - Many-banded krait - Nerodia clarkii - Russell's viper - Snake scales - Vipera berus - Western green mamba

General images

The following are images from various snake-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1The world's most venomous snake, based on LD₅₀, is the inland taipan of Australia. (from Venomous snake)
Image 2A red-sided garter snake (from Narcisse Snake Dens)
Image 3Medusa (1597) by the Italian artist Caravaggio (from Snake)
Image 4Snake coiled on a stick in Oklahoma. It was brumating in a large pile of wood chips, found by this landscaper after he bulldozed the pile in late autumn 2018. (from Snake)
Image 5Eupodophis descouensi (from Snake)
Image 6Australia-Oceania Köppen Map (from Australian snake habitats)
Image 7Close up of a red-sided garter snake
Image 8Eupodophis descouensi (from Snake)
Image 9An adult Barbados threadsnake, Leptotyphlops carlae, on an American quarter dollar (from Snake)
Image 10Most common symptoms of any kind of snake bite envenomation. Furthermore, there is vast variation in symptoms between bites from different types of snakes. (from Snake)
Image 11Common Tree Snake (from Australian snake habitats)
Image 12Snakes composing a bronze kerykeion from the mythical Longanus river in Sicily (from Snake)
Image 13Eupodophis descouensi hind leg (from Snake)
Image 14Tetrapodophis (from Snake)
Image 15Mouse embryo 12 day post fertilization side by side with corn snake embryo 2 days post ovo-positioning. (from Snake)
Image 16A common watersnake shedding its skin (from Snake)
Image 17Golden tree snake climbing a flower (from Snake)
Image 18The skeletons of snakes are radically different from those of most other reptiles (as compared with the turtle here, for example), consisting almost entirely of an extended ribcage. (from Snake)
Image 19A line diagram from The Fauna of British India by G. A. Boulenger (1890), illustrating the terminology of shields on the head of a snake (from Snake)
Image 20African egg-eating snake eating an egg (from Snake)
Image 21Wart snake (Acrochordus granulatus) (from List of snakes of South Asia)
Image 22Diagram illustrating differential somite size due to difference in somitogenesis clock oscillation (from Snake)
Image 23The lateral view of a king cobra's skull showing fangs (from Venomous snake)
Image 24The Binocellate Cobra(naja naja) (from List of snakes of South Asia)
Image 25Approximate world distribution of snakes (from Snake)
Image 26The garter snake has been studied for sexual selection. (from Snake)
Image 27Rod of Asclepius, in which the snake, through ecdysis, symbolizes healing (from Snake)
Image 28Innocuous milk snakes are often mistaken for coral snakes whose venom is deadly to humans. (from Snake)
Image 29The Indian cobra is the most common subject of snake charmings. (from Snake)
Image 30Ballcourt marker from the Postclassic site of Mixco Viejo in Guatemala. This sculpture depicts Kukulkan, jaws agape, with the head of a human warrior emerging from his maw. (from Snake)
Image 31Snake meat, in a Taipei restaurant (from Snake)
Image 32Narcisse Snake Dens welcome sign (from Narcisse Snake Dens)
Image 33Dolichophis jugularis preying on a sheltopusik (from Snake)
Image 34The reverse side of the throne of Pharaoh Tutankhamun with four golden uraeus cobra figures. Gold with lapis lazuli; Valley of the Kings, Thebes (1347–37 BCE). (from Snake)
Image 35Vipera berus, one fang in glove with a small venom stain, the other still in place (from Snake)
Image 36A neonate sidewinder rattlesnake (Crotalus cerastes) sidewinding (from Snake)
Image 37Crawling prints of a snake (from Snake)
Image 38Common Blind Snake (Ramphotyphlops braminus) (from List of snakes of South Asia)