Tiny Island Home to Thousands of Deadly Snakes

Calliegirl

Calliegirl

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Awesome, Snake Island. :)

Ilha de Queimada Grande has a nickname — Snake Island. Even though the reason for the nickname is obvious, the details are shiver-inducing.
This 110-acre island off the coast of São Paulo, Brazil, is home to one of the most venemous snakes in the world, a species of pit viper called the Golden Lancehead Viper. These snakes grow to over 18 inches long, and their bite is so potent, it will actually melt the flesh around the wound. Wikipedia lists the effects of the venom of lancehead snakes as “swelling, local pain, nausea and vomiting, blood blisters, bruising, blood in the vomit and urine, intestinal bleeding, kidney failure, hemorrhage in the brain and severe necrosis of muscular tissue.”
And the venom of the Golden Lancehead is three to five times more potent than the lancehead species found on the mainland.
Because of their deadly presence — as many as one snake per square meter! — the Brazilian Navy has forbidden anyone from landing on the island, with the only exception being certain scientific groups and the Brazilian Navy which maintains a lighthouse on the island. For a long time, the island’s only inhabitant was the lighthouse keeper. In fact, there is quite a gruesome tale told by local folks about the last lighthouse keeper. Atlas Obscura writes, “One night, a handful of snakes enter through a window and attack the man, his wife, and their three children. In a desperate gambit to escape, they flee towards their boat, but they are bitten by snakes on branches overhead.”


Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/tiny-island-home-to-thousands-of-deadly-snakes.html#ixzz2Jbv4tA1q
Click to expand...

Short video of the Island: http://www.arkive.org/golden-lancehead/bothropoides-insularis/video-00.html
 
Fascinating! I am quite "fond" ( :D yally) of snakes...not so much the venom part. :)
 
I'm thinking it would make a great movie! :)
 
^ Haha Spang.:p

It's nice that they have their own habitat away from humans. My (non-veg) friend had a snake and I did hold it for about two seconds (!) and it wasn't too frightening.:D
 
There are a couple of "spider islands" which are (unsurprisingly) the same as this but with spiders instead of snakes. It's fascinating how certain conditions can make a certain species King of the Jungle :)
 
I read once about some people whose house was on top of a garter snake winter den. They didn't know until spring, when thousands of snakes started coming out of hibernation- many into their house.

If that happened to me I would burn the ******* place down.
 
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