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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Venomous snakes are species of the suborder Serpentes that are capable of producing venom, which they use for killing prey, for defense, and to assist with digestion of their prey. The venom is typically delivered by injection using hollow or grooved fangs, although some venomous snakes lack well-developed fangs. Common venomous snakes include the families Elapidae, Viperidae, Atractaspididae, and some of the Colubridae. The toxicity of venom is mainly indicated by murine LD₅₀, while multiple factors are considered to judge the potential danger to humans. Other important factors for risk assessment include the likelihood that a snake will bite, the quantity of venom delivered with the bite, the efficiency of the delivery mechanism, and the location of a bite on the body of the victim. Snake venom may have both neurotoxic and hemotoxic properties. There are about 600 venomous snake species in the world. (Full article...)

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... that when a Russian warship asked the Ukrainian defenders of Snake Island to surrender, their response was "Russian warship, go fuck yourself"?
... that table tennis commentator Adam Bobrow's nickname "Snakeman" comes from a trick shot called "the snake"?
... that Missouri's annual Snake Saturday parade originally began in a hotel parking lot with only four floats?
... that Olivia Rodrigo can write ballads about homeschooled girls as well as about songbirds and snakes?
... that Vanita Jagdeo Borade has been called the "snake woman" for having rescued more than 50,000 snakes?
... that the Churah Valley kukri snake was discovered because of an Instagram post?

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...that the Scarlet King Snake can be distinguished from the Coral Snake by the mnemonic "red and yellow, kill a fellow" and "red and black venom lack"?
... that venom is thought to have had a single origin in the evolutionary history of snakes?
... that in local New Guinea folklore, the magic-man sends the Papuan black snake to kill enemies?
... that the limestone quarries near Ein Yabrud in the Judean Mountains have produced the only fossils for the extinct snakes Pachyrhachis and Haasiophis?
...that the San Francisco garter snake is an endangered species capable of digesting toxic newts but is not found in San Francisco?

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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 1Common Blind Snake (Ramphotyphlops braminus) (from List of snakes of South Asia)
Image 2The 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 3Diagram illustrating differential somite size due to difference in somitogenesis clock oscillation (from Snake)
Image 4Wart snake (Acrochordus granulatus) (from List of snakes of South Asia)
Image 5An adult Barbados threadsnake, Leptotyphlops carlae, on an American quarter dollar (from Snake)
Image 6Most 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 7The lateral view of a king cobra's skull showing fangs (from Venomous snake)
Image 8A neonate sidewinder rattlesnake (Crotalus cerastes) sidewinding (from Snake)
Image 9The Indian cobra is the most common subject of snake charmings. (from Snake)
Image 10Close up of a red-sided garter snake
Image 11Australia-Oceania Köppen Map (from Australian snake habitats)
Image 12Innocuous milk snakes are often mistaken for coral snakes whose venom is deadly to humans. (from Snake)
Image 13Ballcourt 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 14Eupodophis descouensi (from Snake)
Image 15A 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 16The garter snake has been studied for sexual selection. (from Snake)
Image 17Dolichophis jugularis preying on a sheltopusik (from Snake)
Image 18A red-sided garter snake (from Narcisse Snake Dens)
Image 19Crawling prints of a snake (from Snake)
Image 20Golden tree snake climbing a flower (from Snake)
Image 21Medusa (1597) by the Italian artist Caravaggio (from Snake)
Image 22A common watersnake shedding its skin (from Snake)
Image 23The 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 24Mouse embryo 12 day post fertilization side by side with corn snake embryo 2 days post ovo-positioning. (from Snake)
Image 25Vipera berus, one fang in glove with a small venom stain, the other still in place (from Snake)
Image 26Rod of Asclepius, in which the snake, through ecdysis, symbolizes healing (from Snake)
Image 27Snake meat, in a Taipei restaurant (from Snake)
Image 28Eupodophis descouensi hind leg (from Snake)
Image 29Approximate world distribution of snakes (from Snake)
Image 30African egg-eating snake eating an egg (from Snake)
Image 31The world's most venomous snake, based on LD₅₀, is the inland taipan of Australia. (from Venomous snake)
Image 32Snake 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 33Narcisse Snake Dens welcome sign (from Narcisse Snake Dens)
Image 34Eupodophis descouensi (from Snake)
Image 35The Binocellate Cobra(naja naja) (from List of snakes of South Asia)
Image 36Common Tree Snake (from Australian snake habitats)
Image 37Tetrapodophis (from Snake)
Image 38Snakes composing a bronze kerykeion from the mythical Longanus river in Sicily (from Snake)