Snakes

New Research

Some Sea Snakes Can Go Seven Months Without Drinking Water

To survive the dry season, yellow-bellied sea snakes severely dehydrate until the wet season brings freshwater for them to lap up from the ocean’s surface

March 18, 2014

New Research

Flying Snakes Glide Through the Air Like Mini-Tornadoes

Researchers are getting closer to understanding the physics behind this impressive reptilian feat

March 10, 2014

Ancient Reptiles Kept Switching Between Laying Eggs And Giving Birth to Live Babies

Colder temperatures seem key to triggering the switch to live births

December 18, 2013

How Titanoboa, the 40-Foot-Long Snake, Was Found

In Colombia, the fossil of a gargantuan snake has stunned scientists, forcing them to rethink the nature of prehistoric life

April 2012

Snake Found in Grand Central Station!

Sculptor Kevin Hockley unveils his fearsome replica of Titanoboa

March 22, 2012

Boa Constrictors Get a Feel for Their Prey

What makes a snake stop squeezing? We do science to prove ourselves wrong, because the answer people predicted is not the correct answer

January 30, 2012

Attack of the Giant Pythons

The Smithsonian’s noted bird sleuth, Carla Dove, eyes smelly globs to identify victims in Florida

April 2011

Five Giant Snakes We Should Worry About

October 13, 2009

From the Castle: Big Snakes

Scientists from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute publish their amazing find of Titanoboa, the world’s largest snake

May 2009

CSI Action Is for the Birds - and Pythons

August 7, 2008

Python Invasion?

Burmese pythons move into the Everglades

February 25, 2008

Islands for Snakes

September 14, 2007

Serpent Surprise

April 1, 2001

The Belled Viper

Even hunters of timber rattlers now admit that these snakes are shy, placid — and very fragile

December 1, 1997

If It Moves, Grab It, but Try Not to Get the End That Bites

That’s the advice researchers in Venezuela give volunteers who help them find and collect specimens of the world’s biggest boa

September 1996