From Fangs to Scales: 40 Understanding the Life of Snakes

Although Cottonmouths are heavy-bodied snakes, they are also buoyant and swim with their whole body above the water.

27. Based on past hunting experiences, snakes like vipers cam manipulate their ambush site by removing grass that comes in their strike path. They predict the future chain of actions and strategize their hunt.

28. Habushu is a liqueur made in Okinawa which involves submerging a living pit viper in a jar of alcohol and sealing it. Some variations involve putting the viper on ice to knock it out, gutting it and sewing it back up, and placing it in the alcohol only for it to wake up and get super aggressive before dying.

29. The king cobra is the world's longest venomous snake, with a maximum length of over 19 feet.

30. The Black Mamba can reach a speed of 12mph (20km/h), which is faster than most humans can run.

Pit vipers are named for the pits near their eyes which give them a sort of thermal vision.

32. The Texas rat snake, as well as two others types of vipers have been recorded to strike with accelerations up to 28 Gs (~275 m/s^2). Pilots lose consciousness at ~9 Gs.

33. Members of some Christian sects in the Southern United States are regularly bitten by venomous snakes while participating in "snake handling" rituals. This ritual is inspired by a literal interpretation of the Bible verses Mark 16:17–18.

34. The Brown Tree Snake most likely traveled to remote Pacific Islands by hitching a free ride in the landing gear of an aircraft. As a result, the snake has decimated native bird populations on several islands like Guam.

35. Only 1/14,000th of an ounce of Australian brown snake venom can kill a human.

There have never been snakes in Ireland because being cold-blooded, the snake couldn't survive the frozen ground during the ice age in the past.

37. Snakes are banned in New Zealand and smugglers could face penalties of up to a maximum of five years in jail and fines of up to $100,000. The ban is so strict that snakes are not allowed even in zoos.

38. Coastal rubber boas are native to Southwestern Canada and the northwestern US. They are considered the most docile of boa species and are often used to help people overcome their fear of snakes. There are no reports of rubber boas ever biting a human under any circumstance.

39. In 2010, a boa constrictor was shown to have reproduced asexually via parthenogenesis. This is only the third genetically confirmed case of consecutive virgin births of viable offspring from a single female within any vertebrate lineage.

40. Anacondas mate in a giant "breeding ball" with 1 female and up to 12 males, and they stay in that position for a month.