Snakes

Young pythons warm themselves

Study Reveals Pythons Take Care of Their Offspring, For a Little While

The southern African python wraps around its eggs to keep them warm and does the same for its snakelets during the first weeks of life

The black-necked spitting cobra (Naja nigricollis) that sprayed venom into Wandege’s eye.

When Science Means Getting Cobra Venom Spat Into Your Eye

How a reptile mix-up and a fortuitous dose of breastmilk helped researchers tap into biodiversity in Africa’s eastern Congo

Is fear of creepy crawlies nature or nurture?

Spiders Give You the Heebie Jeebies? You Might Be Born With That Fear

New research shows that even babies are creeped out by these wriggly critters

Taxonomic vandalism can have disastrous consequences for wildlife conservation—but it could also impact human health. Shown here, an African spitting cobra poised to strike.

A Few Bad Scientists Are Threatening to Topple Taxonomy

Naming species forms the foundation of biology—but these rogue researchers are exposing the flaws in the system

How Many Ways Can Snake Venom Kill You and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

Warning: Here's a King Cobra Swallowing Another Snake Whole

Raja the King Cobra is about to eat. He’s sunk his teeth into an ambushed rat snake, shot a dose of neurotoxin into it, and is now about to swallow it

Watch Two King Cobras Romance Each Other

King cobra mating techniques aren’t subtle. To indicate his interest, the male will engage in frequent headbutting with the female

A Puff Adder Swallowing a Rat Is Something You Can't Unsee

A puff adder has just bitten a rat, injecting it with enough venom to finish it off. The next step is to swallow it whole

Incredible: A Gaboon Viper Strikes a Bird in Slo-Mo

Gaboon vipers don't have the fastest strike in the snake world--but they don't need to be faster than other snakes, just their prey

What Can a Puff Adder Snake Bite Do to a Rhino?

A puff adder's bite can do serious damage, even to an animal with skin as thick as a rhino's. The photographic evidence we have is not pretty

A Hungry Snake Finds a Whole Colony of Sociable Weavers

Nesting in close proximity to each other has a lot of advantages for sociable weavers

These are the creatures snakes have nightmares about.

The Animals That Venom Can’t Touch

Meet the creatures who look into the face of venomous death and say: Not today

Just a fraction of the nearly 25,000 pounds of diamondback rattlesnakes displayed at the 2016 Rattlesnake Roundup in Sweetwater, Texas.

Controversial Texas Rattlesnake Roundup Nets Largest Catch to Date

One of the world’s largest rattlesnake roundup bagged nearly 25,000 pounds of rattlers this year

A nonvenomous Texas rat snake coils up in a defensive posture.

To Scientists' Surprise, Even Nonvenomous Snakes Can Strike at Ridiculous Speeds

The Texas rat snake was just as much of a speed demon as deadly vipers, challenging long-held notions about snake adaptations

This yellow-bellied watersnake gave birth without male contact in the last eight years.

In Nature, Virgin Births Are Pretty Common

Fish do it, bugs do it, even some species of snakes do it

This photo of two short-nosed sea snakes alerted researchers to the species' survival, even though they were thought to be extinct for 15 years.

They’re Back: Supposedly Extinct Sea Snakes Have Been Found in Australia

Nearly 15 years later and about 1,000 miles away from the last sighting, the snakes could be making a comeback

Yet Another Highly-Venomous Snake Discovered in Australia

The Kimberley death adder is one of the most venomous snakes in the world

Why A Single Vial Of Antivenom Can Cost $14,000

It’s not because all antivenom is expensive to make.

Corythomantis greeningi frogs carry potent venom in their pouts.

What’s the Difference Between Poisonous and Venomous Animals?

The first known venomous frogs, discovered in Brazil, raise some basic questions about toxic biology

Boa constrictors seem to deliver death not through suffocation, but by cutting off blood flow to the heart and brain.

Boa Constrictors Kill By Stopping Blood Circulation

The popular belief that boas and other constricting snakes deal death by suffocation seems to be a flawed assumption

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