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NEWS ABOUT: snakes

Pythons Squeezing Life Out of Everglades

Invading snakes blamed for drastic decline in mammal populations

(Newser) - The native mammals of the Florida Everglades have been all but wiped out by huge numbers of pythons and anacondas descended from released pets, a new study finds. After nearly a decade of night-time road surveys in the 1.5 million-acre national park, researchers found that raccoon and opossum sightings... More »

Meet the World's Newest Snake: Matilda

Matilda's Horned Viper, to be precise

(Newser) - A brand-new species of snake sports yellow and black scales, two spiked horns, and a pretty cool name: Matilda's Horned Viper. Scientists discovered it in Tanzania two years ago and it got introduced last month as the world's newest snake species. It's only the third new snake... More »

See Snakes Let Loose at Tax Office

Man angry he didn't get a parcel of land

(Newser) - As reported earlier , a venomous North Indian snake charmer got back at government bureaucrats the best way he knew—by releasing cobras in their office. The snake charmer told reporters he had been promised a plot of land for his reptiles two years ago by a district magistrate, but nothing... More »

Farmers Protest Bribery—With Bags of Snakes

Two men in India unleash 40 snakes on a tax office

(Newser) - Two farmers in northern India just wanted to obtain property tax records from a local tax office, but officials allegedly demanded bribes for the info. The miffed farmers came back with three bags, filled not with bribe cash, but with around 40 live snakes—including at least four deadly cobras—... More »

Snake-Free Hawaii Fears Slithery Invasion

Authorities see more illegal pets, worry about ecosystem

(Newser) - Leave it to a snake to ruin paradise. Hawaiian officials are worried that a steady increase in illegal snake ownership—a 9-foot boa and a 7-foot python were captured this month after escaping—will threaten the islands' fragile ecosystem and kill off birds and flowers, reports the Associated Press . Environmental... More »

Ukraine Zoo Gets Two-Headed Snake

And each has a mind of its own

(AP) - A two-headed snake has gone on display at a zoo in southern Ukraine. The "Skazka" (Fairy tale) zoo in Yalta on the Black Sea said today that the albino California Kingsnake has two heads that think, react, and eat separately, though one is more passive than the other. A... More »

Snake-Infested Home Like 'Living in a Horror Movie'

Home was most likely built on a winter snake sanctuary, says biologist

(Newser) - Ben and Amber Sessions thought they’d scored a major bargain when they found a five-bedroom house in the rural Idaho countryside for less than $180,000. But the dream house they purchased in 2009 turned out to be infested with hundreds upon hundreds of garter snakes, reports the AP.... More »

Guess What's Loose at the Bronx Zoo?!

A very deadly Egyptian cobra that someone might want to put back in a cage

(Newser) - So the Bronx Zoo seems to have misplaced a pesky little thing we like to call a very deadly, aggressive Egyptian cobra, reports the New York Post. The 20-inch adolescent went missing yesterday, and workers who scoured all the likely places it would hide still haven't found it, reports the... More »

Defense Dept Trying to Learn Secrets of Flying Snakes

Agency funding research into reptile's aerodynamics

(Newser) - A type of snake in Asia can remain airborne far longer than any snake should, and the Defense Department wants it to give up its secrets. The feds are funding Virginia Tech studies to figure out the aerodynamics of the tree-dwelling reptile (genus Chrysopelea), reports the Washington Post . The biologist... More »

Snakes Headed the Way of the Dinosaur?

Snakes may face fate similar to that of frogs and fish

(Newser) - After more than 150 million years on earth, snakes may be slithering toward extinction. A new study shows snake populations plummeting around the world, with an especially sharp and mysterious drop in 1998. Researchers who tracked 17 snake populations in Africa, Europe, and Australia were "alarmed" to find 11... More »

S. Florida Fears New Everglades 'Super Snake'

Florida hunts for new species of python

(Newser) - A state-coordinated hunt for a new invasive python population is under way in the Everglades, amid fears that Southern Florida could soon be home to a new “super snake.” The 3-day hunt launched Tuesday has so far nabbed at least five African rock pythons, one of them 14... More »

Florida to Unleash Python Hunters

(Newser) - With Florida’s python population exploding, state wildlife officials are going on the offensive, hiring a team of trained hunters to track down the alarmingly large snakes and take them out, the Miami Herald reports. “There’s one way to do this: kill the snakes,” says Florida Sen.... More »

Snakes on a Plane 2: Baby Pythons Escape in Flight

The 12 non-venomous snakes were not found

(AP) - Four baby pythons escaped from a container aboard a passenger plane in Australia, leading to a search that forced the cancellation of two flights, the airline said today. Twelve non-venomous Stimson pythons were being transported Tuesday on a flight from Alice Springs to Melbourne, but when the flight landed it... More »

Rattler Strikes Shopper at Fla. Wal-Mart

Man released after poisonous bite, which may have killed a child

(Newser) - A Florida man has been released from the hospital after being bitten in the hand by a poisonous pygmy rattlesnake while browsing in a Wal-Mart garden department, the Miami Herald reports. Though potentially deadly to a child or elderly person, the bite "wouldn't have been fatal with an adult... More »

Humans Wired to Fear Snakes

Scientists find innate ability to discern slithering critters in the wild

(Newser) - Evolution seems to have given humans a hard-wired ability to recognize snakes and spiders, LiveScience reports. Intrigued by the widespread fear of serpents despite the fact that most humans rarely interact with them, researchers showed groups of adults and 3-year-olds natural scenes containing various hidden animals. Both groups were consistently... More »

Balmy, With a Chance of Pythons

Dumped American pets thriving in wild on global warming

(Newser) - Burmese pythons could rapidly establish a stranglehold on the southern US due in part to snake-loving global warming, according to a new government report. With climate change and more pet owners releasing unwanted snakes into the wild, the adaptable serpent could soon call home any area from Northern California through... More »

Snakes on a Plane! Almost!

Security nabs passenger in Cairo bearing bags of live vipers

(Newser) - Flyers could have found themselves reliving the scenario of cheesy horror classic "Snakes on a Plane" had security agents failed to nab a passenger with carry-on bags of live snakes headed for a jet leaving Cairo. Agents found a large number of reptiles, including at least one cobra, after... More »

Snake Venom Accusation Dogs Horse Trainer

Poison from cobra reported found in Ky. racetrack barn

(Newser) - Doping scandals in horse racing usually concern diuretics and other performance-enhancing drugs, but a controversy currently brewing in Kentucky and New York involves a substance with a far longer history: cobra venom. Authorities searched a barn at Keeneland last month and turned up evidence that has sparked an investigation of... More »

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