Portal:Snakes

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

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...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Selected article - show another

Smooth green snake in a sand prairie

The smooth green snake (Opheodrys vernalis) is a species of North American nonvenomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is also referred to as the grass snake. It is a slender, "small medium" snake that measures 36–51 cm (14–20 in) as an adult. It gets its common name from its smooth dorsal scales, as opposed to the rough green snake, which has keeled dorsal scales. The smooth green snake is found in marshes, meadows, open woods, and along stream edges, and is native to regions of Canada, the United States, and northern Mexico. A non-aggressive snake, it seldom bites and usually flees when threatened. It mates in late spring to summer, and females lay their eggs from June to September. The smooth green snake will often bob its head in order to mimic vegetation blowing in the wind. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

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

... that Isabel Cooper painted live snakes while holding them in her hand?
... 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 the Japanese fire-bellied newt tends to show its belly to birds but wag its tail at snakes?
... that the tomb of the overseer of every cultivated place and every desert place threatens grave robbers with crocodiles and snakes?
... 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?

edit

More did you know? - show different entries

A plains gartersnake

... that the Plains Garter Snake (pictured) is one of the most cold-tolerant snakes and often emerges from hibernation to bask on sunny winter days?
... that apart from eating smaller lizards and amphibians, the Central American coral snake also feeds on other snakes?
... that Dwyer's Snake is only weakly venomous and coils into a ball when threatened?
... that the Bahamian Pygmy Boa Constrictor can voluntarily bleed from its eyes, mouth and nostrils?
... that the East Bay Vivarium is the oldest and largest retail vivarium in the United States?

More Did you know facts

edit

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