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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The eastern green mamba (Dendroaspis angusticeps) is a highly venomous snake species of the mamba genus Dendroaspis native to the coastal regions of southern East Africa. Described by Scottish surgeon and zoologist Andrew Smith in 1849, it has a slender build with a bright green back and green-yellow ventral scales. Adult females average around 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) in length, and males are slightly smaller.

In spite of common urban legends and misconceptions labeling the eastern green mamba an aggressive, fast-moving “people-chaser”, it is in fact a shy and elusive species that remains hidden in the trees, and is rarely seen. This seclusion is usually attributed to its arboreal habitat and green colouration, which acts as effective camouflage in its natural environment. Even with its deadly venom, the green mamba has to protect itself from predators, including birds of prey and other snakes, such as cobras. It has been observed engaging in ambush predation, a trait seen among many Viperidae species, contrary to the active hunting style typical of other Elapidae snakes. It preys on arboreal and winged animals, such as birds and their chicks and eggs, bats, and arboreal rodents such as mice, rats, and gerbils. (Full article...)

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... that the Voice of Freedom had to counter venomous snakes, leeches, and other wildlife?
... that it can be hard to know which Snake is which?
... that Isabel Cooper painted live snakes while holding them in her hand?
... that the Churah Valley kukri snake was discovered because of an Instagram post?
... that Vanita Jagdeo Borade has been called the "snake woman" for having rescued more than 50,000 snakes?
... that Missouri's annual Snake Saturday parade originally began in a hotel parking lot with only four floats?

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... that the Balkan whip snake hibernates in winter, with several snakes sometimes sharing a single site?
... that the Late Cretaceous madtsoiid snake Sanajeh preyed on hatchling sauropod dinosaurs at nesting sites in India?
...that although the green anaconda is the modern world's largest snake at up to 9 m (30 ft) long and 227 kg (500 lb), the extinct Titanoboa could be up to 12.8 m (42 ft) long and 1,135 kg (2,500 lb; 1.1 long tons)?
... that the snake Philodryas baroni emits a foul-smelling substance from the cloaca when frightened?
... that the recently discovered smallest snake in the world, Leptotyphlops carlae (pictured), is thought to be near the evolutionary limit of how small any snake could be?

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