Animals, features and articles | Educational Science

Dec 31, 2020

Would you eat a python to save the Everglades?

Floridians could begin seeing a new slithery item on their menus — Burmese pythons. The invasive species is so out of control in the state that the government may begin encouraging the new meal as a way to help keep the snake's numbers under control, as long as they aren't...

Jan 12, 2021

Bizarre new type of locomotion discovered in invasive snakes

Brown tree snakes can turn their bodies into lassos to shimmy up power poles and trees — a superpower that has allowed the species to invade new territory, new research has found. This is the first time in nearly 100 years that a new type of snake locomotion has been...

Apr 8, 2021

Masquerading, deadly snake discovered and named after shape-shifting Chinese goddess

A deadly new snake has been discovered after spending decades masquerading as a much less dangerous species, according to researchers — who named the snake after a shape-shifting serpent goddess from a Chinese folktale. The new species is a type of krait snake found in Southwest China and northern Myanmar...

Jul 19, 2021

Snake photos: Pythons swallow crocodiles and other animals … whole

Deer, crocodiles and even a human are just some of the odd meals engulfed by pythons. How do they gorge on such giant fare? Python snakes don't dislocate their jaws (a common myth), but instead rely on the springiness of the tissues connecting their jawbones. Unlike in mammals, python snakes...

Aug 19, 2021

Sexually frustrated sea snakes mistake scuba divers for potential mates

A scuba diver off Australia noticed some odd behavior whenever he came into contact with male sea snakes: The venomous reptiles would coil around his fins, licking the water around him and even sometimes chasing him underwater. Now, he knows why: It was mating season, and the males thought he...

Aug 19, 2021

Rattlesnake rattles use auditory illusion to trick human brains

The menacing rattle of a rattlesnake's tail is far more sophisticated than first thought, as the sound can create an auditory illusion that suggests the venomous snake is closer to a potential threat than it really is, according to a new study. Scientists think that rattlesnakes rattle the keratin structure...

Sep 25, 2021

Which came first: Snake fangs or venom?

A snake's lightning-quick bite is the perfect way to inject venom into prey. Aiding and abetting this violent attack are the long, curved fangs snakes have evolved to dose their next meal with venom — toxins that hurt, disable or even kill their victim. But which came first: the venom...

Oct 18, 2021

Why did more than 90 rattlesnakes move into a California home?

A homeowner in California got a surprise after calling a reptile rescue to handle a few rattlesnake sightings in their home: They were sharing their space with at least 92 of the snakes. Sonoma County Reptile Rescue director Al Wolf pulled 22 adult rattlesnakes and 59 babies from the house's...

Nov 1, 2021

Two extremely venomous snakes found mating in home drainpipe, yanked out by tails

Some of the world's deadliest snakes were caught in the act of mating in a home's drainpipe and had to be yanked out by their tails, according to news reports. Two Eastern brown snakes (Pseudonaja textilis), which are native to Australia and New Guinea, had crawled into a drainpipe at...

Jan 27, 2022

Watch a python swallow an impala whole in this jaw-dropping video

An incredible video shows an African rock python (Python sebae), one of the largest snake species on the planet, slowly swallowing an impala whole. The video, recorded in MalaMala Game Reserve in South Africa, shows the snake's head slowly slinking across the impala's body as the snake seems to magically...

Feb 15, 2022

Rat snake facts

Rat snakes are medium-to-large, nonvenomous snakes that kill by constriction. They pose no threat to humans, and as their name implies, rats are one of their favorite foods. There are Old World (Eastern Hemisphere) and New World (Western Hemisphere) rat snakes, and the two types are genetically different. New World...

Feb 26, 2022

How do snakes hiss if they don't have front teeth?

Dogs say woof, cats say meow and snakes say sss. To make this sound, humans have to position their tongues against their front teeth. Snakes don't have front teeth, so how can they make this sound — and sometimes even stick out their tongues at the same time? It turns...

Mar 1, 2022

Brown snakes: Facts, characteristics, habitat and diet

The name brown snake refers to two different genera of snakes, found on two different continents. If you are in North America, brown snake is the common name for Storeria, a small, shy, nonvenomous snake. If you are in Australia, Papua New Guinea or West Papua, brown snake is the...

Mar 3, 2022

Anaconda: Habits, hunting and diet

Anacondas are semi aquatic snakes found in tropical South America, notable in the Amazon and different to pythons. They are some of the largest snakes in the world and are known for their swimming ability. “Anaconda” is the common name for the genus Eunectes, a genus of boa. Eunectes means...

Mar 22, 2022

Surprise! King cobra is actually a royal lineage of 4 species

The imposing king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah), instantly recognizable by its flaring hood, is the world's biggest venomous snake and can grow to reach nearly 13 feet (4 meters) long. It inhabits a sizable kingdom across the Asian tropics, stretching from Indonesia to India. However, new research reveals that the king...