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, the Hawaiian archipelago, 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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Vipera berus, also known as the common European adder and the common European viper, is a species of venomous snake in the family Viperidae. The species is extremely widespread and can be found throughout much of Europe, and as far as East Asia. There are three recognised subspecies.

Known by a host of common names including common adder and common viper, the adder has been the subject of much folklore in Britain and other European countries. It is not regarded as especially dangerous;^{[page needed]} the snake is not aggressive and usually bites only when really provoked, stepped on, or picked up. Bites can be very painful, but are seldom fatal. The specific name, berus, is Neo-Latin and was at one time used to refer to a snake, possibly the grass snake, Natrix natrix. (Full article...)

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... that the Voice of Freedom had to counter venomous snakes, leeches, and other wildlife?
... that the Churah Valley kukri snake was discovered because of an Instagram post?
... that salt marsh snakes drink only rainwater?
... that Isabel Cooper painted live snakes while holding them in her hand?
... that Olivia Rodrigo can write ballads about homeschooled girls as well as about songbirds and snakes?
... that the Japanese fire-bellied newt tends to show its belly to birds but wag its tail at snakes?

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

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Tile with two rabbits, two snakes and a tortoise. Illustration for Zakariya al-Qazwini's book, Marvels of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing (13th century). Earthenware, molded and underglaze-painted decoration. Iran, 19th century.
Photo credit: Jastrow