Snakes have a long, flexible body that is covered with dry scales. Snakes flick their forked tongues to bring in odors to their sensory glands.
Python, a large, primitive snake of tropical Asia and Africa. Like the similar but unrelated boa constrictor of tropical America, the python has vestigial hind limbs that extend outside the body as a pair of short spurs. See more »
A snake can swallow an animal that’s twice as big as its own head -- and swallow it whole. Snakes are amazing creatures with some astonishing capabilities. Did you know that a few of them can even fly? Learn how snakes get around, how they kill and eat their prey, and how they court and reproduce.
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Adder, the name of several snakes, including many European vipers and harmless North American snakes.
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Anaconda, or Water Boa, a water snake of Central and tropical South America. Anacondas kill their prey - birds and small reptiles and mammals - by squeezing them until they suffocate, or by drowning them.
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Asp, a name applied to several different species of poisonous snakes. The term is most commonly used to identify the Egyptian cobra and the horned viper, both of which are native to North Africa and adjacent southwestern Asia.
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Cobra, the common name for a group of poisonous snakes of Africa and southern Asia.
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Copperhead, a poisonous snake related to the rattlesnake and the water moccasin. It is named for the coppery-red color of its head.
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Coral Snake, a small poisonous snake of the Western Hemisphere. There are about 50 species.
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Fer-de-lance, a venomous snake of Central and South America and the West Indies. The fer-de-lance is related to the pit viper and rattlesnake, but has no rattles.
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Garter Snake, a harmless snake found in the United States, southern Canada, and Mexico.
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Hognose Snake, a nonpoisonous snake of North America that is harmless to humans. It is also called the puff adder because it flattens its head and neck, inflates its body with air, and hisses loudly when disturbed.
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Mamba, a poisonous snake of tropical and southern Africa. It is related to the cobra, but, unlike the cobra, cannot expand its neck into a hood.
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Milk Snake, a nonpoisonous, useful species of king snake. The milk snake is found throughout the eastern United States and in southern Ontario.
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Moccasin, a poisonous snake related to the copperhead and rattlesnake. It is found in swamps, lakes, and rivers in North America, Mexico, and South America.
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Pit Viper, a poisonous snake with a deep pit on each side of the head, between the eye and the nostril.
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Puff Adder, the name of two unrelated snakes. One is a nonpoisonous North American species properly called the hognose snake.
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Python, a large, primitive snake of tropical Asia and Africa. Like the similar but unrelated boa constrictor of tropical America, the python has vestigial hind limbs that extend outside the body as a pair of short spurs.
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Rattlesnake, a venomous snake having a rattle at the end of its tail. There are 42 species and subspecies of rattlesnakes.
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Snake, a limbless reptile. There are about 2,500 species of snakes. Some inhabit the sea and others live in freshwater, but the majority live on land.
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The fear of snakes, ophidiophobia, is one of the most widespread phobias in the world. There are many types of harmless snakes, but the venom from some poisonous varieties can kill a person
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Viper, a poisonous snake. There are more than 180 species in the viper family; some are commonly called adders.
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