- The Topic:
- Snakes
Don't Overlook These Additional Resources - A Bonus Links Page.- If you are looking for more specific information and photos of a certain type of snake, we encourage you to visit our Snake Family and Species page - - where we have alphabetically arranged over a hundred links - - too many to include here!
- Easier - Snakes are long, thin reptiles. They do not have legs and they slither along the ground. In the United States, only copperheads, coral snakes, rattlesnakes, and water moccasins have poisonous bites.
- Harder - Snakes have a long, legless, flexible body that is covered with dry scales. When snakes move about on land, they usually slide on their belly. Snake's eyes are covered by clear scales rather than movable eyelids; therefore, their eyes are always open. They repeatedly flick out their narrow, forked tongue, using it to bring odors to a special sense organ in the mouth.
- Snakes belong to the order of animals called reptiles. This group also include crocodiles, lizards, and turtles. As with the other reptiles, snakes maintain a fairly steady body temperature by their behavior. They raise their temperature by lying in the sun or lower it by crawling into the shade.
- There are about 2,400 species of snakes in the world. They live almost everywhere, in deserts, forests, oceans, streams, and lakes. Some are ground dwellers, others live in trees, and other snakes spend most of their lives in water. There are a few areas where snakes do not live. They cannot survive in places where the ground stays frozen the year around, so they are missing in the polar regions or at high mountain elevations. Several islands, including Ireland and New Zealand, do not have snak
Indian Snakes
Indian subcontinent boasts of housing approximately 10 percent of the total snake species found in the world, adding up to somewhere around 200 species in number. From warm seas to semi-deserts, swamps, lakes and even the Himalayan glaciers, one can find snakes in almost all the habitats in India. The snakes of India range from Worm Snakes, about 10 cm in length, to the King Cobra, measuring upto 6 m. In the following lines, we have mentioned the four most popular species of Indian snakes:
Cobra
Cobra, scientifically known as Naja naja, is one of the poisonous snake species native to the Indian subcontinent. It grows to an average height of 1 m and has two circular ocelli patterns on the rear of its hood. These patterns seem to be connected by a curved line, giving the look of spectacles.
King Cobra
Indian King cobra snake belongs to the Ophiophagus Genus and is scientifically known as Ophiophagus Hannah. It is believed to be the largest poisonous terrestrial snake, measuring upto 5.7 m in length. However, the weight of a King cobra rarely exceeds 44 lb (20 kg).
Python
Python snake, also known as Ajgar, is one of the most massively built snakes of the Indian subcontinent. It belongs to the Boidae Family and is dependent on water to quite an extent. One of the unique features of the Rock pythons of India is that they can raise their body temperature above the ambient level, through muscular contractions.
Russells Viper
Russells Viper is known by a number of other names, like Daboia, Tic Polonga, etc. A highly poisonous snake of the Viperidae family, it is scientifically known as Vipera russelli. Indian Russell's viper is responsible for most of the snakebite deaths within its habitat.
Apart from the above-mentioned species, the following types of snakes are also commonly found in India:
Cobra
Cobra, scientifically known as Naja naja, is one of the poisonous snake species native to the Indian subcontinent. It grows to an average height of 1 m and has two circular ocelli patterns on the rear of its hood. These patterns seem to be connected by a curved line, giving the look of spectacles.
King Cobra
Indian King cobra snake belongs to the Ophiophagus Genus and is scientifically known as Ophiophagus Hannah. It is believed to be the largest poisonous terrestrial snake, measuring upto 5.7 m in length. However, the weight of a King cobra rarely exceeds 44 lb (20 kg). Python
Python snake, also known as Ajgar, is one of the most massively built snakes of the Indian subcontinent. It belongs to the Boidae Family and is dependent on water to quite an extent. One of the unique features of the Rock pythons of India is that they can raise their body temperature above the ambient level, through muscular contractions.
Russells Viper
Russells Viper is known by a number of other names, like Daboia, Tic Polonga, etc. A highly poisonous snake of the Viperidae family, it is scientifically known as Vipera russelli. Indian Russell's viper is responsible for most of the snakebite deaths within its habitat.
Apart from the above-mentioned species, the following types of snakes are also commonly found in India:
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