Portal:Snakes

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The Snake Portal

Pope's pit viper (Trimeresurus popeiorum)

Snakes are elongated, limbless 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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A red-bellied black snake in Lamington National Park, Queensland

The red-bellied black snake (Pseudechis porphyriacus) is a species of venomous snake in the family Elapidae, indigenous to Australia. Originally described by George Shaw in 1794 as a species new to science, it is one of eastern Australia's most commonly encountered snakes. Averaging around 1.25 m (4 ft 1 in) in length, it has glossy black upperparts, bright red or orange flanks, and a pink or dull red belly. It is not aggressive and generally retreats from human encounters, but can attack if provoked. Although its venom can cause significant illness, no deaths have been recorded from its bite, which is less venomous than other Australian elapid snakes. The venom contains neurotoxins, myotoxins, and coagulants and has haemolytic properties. Victims can also lose their sense of smell.

Common in woodlands, forests, swamplands, along river banks and waterways the red-bellied black snake often ventures into nearby urban areas. It forages in bodies of shallow water, commonly with tangles of water plants and logs, where it hunts its main prey item, frogs, as well as fish, reptiles, and small mammals. The snake is a least-concern species according to the IUCN, but its numbers are thought to be declining due to habitat fragmentation and decline of frog populations. (Full article...)

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... that Vanita Jagdeo Borade has been called the "snake woman" for having rescued more than 50,000 snakes?
... that Isabel Cooper painted live snakes while holding them in her hand?
... that the Maloja Wind in Switzerland can produce a narrow and elongated low-lying cloud known as the "Maloja Snake"?
... that the tomb of the overseer of every cultivated place and every desert place threatens grave robbers with crocodiles and snakes?
... 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?
... that salt marsh snakes drink only rainwater?

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