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Portal:Snakes

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The Snake Portal

Corallus caninus

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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Acobra bite on the foot of a girl in Thailand

Asnakebite is an injury caused by the bite of a snake, especially a venomous snake. A common sign of a bite from a venomous snake is the presence of two puncture wounds from the animal's fangs. Sometimes venom injection from the bite may occur. This may result in redness, swelling, and severe pain at the area, which may take up to an hour to appear. Vomiting, blurred vision, tingling of the limbs, and sweating may result. Most bites are on the hands, arms, or legs. Fear following a bite is common with symptoms of a racing heart and feeling faint. The venom may cause bleeding, kidney failure, a severe allergic reaction, tissue death around the bite, or breathing problems. Bites may result in the loss of a limb or other chronic problems or even death.

The outcome depends on the type of snake, the area of the body bitten, the amount of snake venom injected, the general health of the person bitten and whether or not anti-venom serum has been administered by a doctor in a timely manner. Problems are often more severe in children than adults, due to their smaller size. Allergic reactions to snake venom can further complicate outcomes and can include anaphylaxis, requiring additional treatment and in some cases resulting in death. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Puff adder

Red-bellied black snake

Serpents in the Bible

Sea snake

Forest cobra

Gaboon viper

Evolution of snake venom

Vipera berus

Black-necked spitting cobra

Western green mamba

Many-banded krait

Snake scale

Yellow-lipped sea krait

List of snakes of Trinidad and Tobago

Western diamondback rattlesnake

Epidemiology of snakebites

Infrared sensing in snakes

Nerodia clarkii

Did you know (auto-generated) - load new batch

... that table tennis commentator Adam Bobrow's nickname "Snakeman" comes from a trick shot called "the snake"?

... 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 Voice of Freedom had to counter venomous snakes, leeches, and other wildlife?

... that it can be hard to know which Snake is which?

... that the Japanese fire-bellied newt tends to show its belly to birds but wag its tail at snakes?

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More did you know? - show different entries

... 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)?

More Did you know facts

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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 lateral view of a king cobra's skull showing fangs (from Venomous snake)
Image 2Innocuous milk snakes are often mistaken for coral snakes whose venom is deadly to humans. (from Snake)
Image 3The 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 4Rod of Asclepius, in which the snake, through ecdysis, symbolizes healing (from Snake)
Image 5Australia-Oceania Köppen Map (from Australian snake habitats)
Image 6A red-sided garter snake (from Narcisse Snake Dens)
Image 7Close up of a red-sided garter snake
Image 8Acommon watersnake shedding its skin (from Snake)
Image 9Approximate world distribution of snakes (from Snake)
Image 10Common Blind Snake (Ramphotyphlops braminus) (from List of snakes of South Asia)
Image 11Golden tree snake climbing a flower (from Snake)
Image 12Eupodophis descouensi hind leg (from Snake)
Image 13Snakes composing a bronze kerykeion from the mythical Longanus river in Sicily (from Snake)
Image 14The 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 15The Binocellate Cobra(naja naja) (from List of snakes of South Asia)
Image 16Most 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 17Tetrapodophis (from Snake)
Image 18Eastern hognose hooding. (from Snake)
Image 19Mouse embryo 12 day post fertilization side by side with corn snake embryo 2 days post ovo-positioning. (from Snake)
Image 20Wart snake (Acrochordus granulatus) (from List of snakes of South Asia)
Image 21Eupodophis descouensi (from Snake)
Image 22Dolichophis jugularis preying on a sheltopusik (from Snake)
Image 23A neonate sidewinder rattlesnake (Crotalus cerastes) sidewinding (from Snake)
Image 24Eupodophis descouensi (from Snake)
Image 25The Indian cobra is the most common subject of snake charmings. (from Snake)
Image 26Common Tree Snake (from Australian snake habitats)
Image 27Medusa (1597) by the Italian artist Caravaggio (from Snake)
Image 28Ballcourt 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 29Reticulated python skull, showing jaw movements when swallowing (from Snake)
Image 30Narcisse Snake Dens welcome sign (from Narcisse Snake Dens)
Image 31Diagram illustrating differential somite size due to difference in somitogenesis clock oscillation (from Snake)
Image 32The garter snake has been studied for sexual selection. (from Snake)
Image 33An adult Barbados threadsnake, Leptotyphlops carlae, on an American quarter dollar (from Snake)
Image 34Vipera berus, one fang in glove with a small venom stain, the other still in place (from Snake)
Image 35A line diagram from The Fauna of British IndiabyG. A. Boulenger (1890), illustrating the terminology of shields on the head of a snake (from Snake)
Image 36The world's most venomous snake, based on LD₅₀, is the inland taipan of Australia. (from Venomous snake)
Image 37African egg-eating snake eating an egg (from Snake)
Image 38Crawling prints of a snake (from Snake)
Image 39Snake 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 40Snake meat, in a Taipei restaurant (from Snake)