Category Archives: Snakes

Fossil of ‘largest snake to have ever existed’ found in western India

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Scientists estimate Vasuki indicus was up to 15m long, weighed a tonne and would have constricted its prey

Fossil vertebrae unearthed in a mine in western India are the remains of one of the largest snakes that ever lived, a monster estimated at up to 15 metres in length – longer than a T rex.

Scientists have recovered 27 vertebrae from the snake, including a few still in the same position as they would have been when the reptile was alive. They said the snake, which they named Vasuki indicus, would have looked like a large python and would not have been venomous.

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Snakes in a drain: spotted black snake found in Queensland public toilet

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Expert says if you see a snake you should leave it alone and call for a professional catcher

When Tennille Bankes walked into a toilet cubicle in Goondiwindi, Queensland, she was greeted by the scaly tail of a spotted black snake peaking out beneath a closed lid.

The wildlife carer and snake catcher was called by police to the public bathroom after a local, surprised by the reptile, summoned them for help.

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‘Extremely venomous’ green mamba on the loose in Netherlands

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Police in southern city of Tilburg tell residents to stay indoors after owner reported missing snake

An “extremely venomous” 2-metre green mamba snake is on the loose in the Netherlands, police have said, warning residents to stay indoors and under no circumstances attempt to ensnare the serpent.

Police in the southern city of Tilburg said they were alerted by the mamba’s owner on Monday evening that “he was missing a snake”.

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Man charged as search continues for pet pythons allegedly dumped in Sydney street

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Snakes Bagel and Mango are used to a much warmer climate than found in Coogee and owner is ‘scared for their safety’

New South Wales police have charged a man after two pet pythons were allegedly dumped on to the street in Coogee, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs last week.

The 2.5-metre snakes, named Bagel and Mango, have been missing since last Saturday, with the pet’s owner posting on a Facebook group that they were dumped in an alleged fit of anger by her former partner during their break-up.

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AFLW game delayed by snake lying on field in western Sydney

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Match between the Giants and Richmond pushed back by about 30 minutes due to red-bellied black snake

An AFLW match between Greater Western Sydney and Richmond in Blacktown was delayed after a snake was spotted sunning itself in the grass.

The red-bellied black snake appeared to be taking advantage of the hot weather that parts of Australia’s south-east have been experiencing.

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Queensland man who died after snake rescue on weekend did not have venom in system

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Family of Donald Morrison now believe he died of an underlying medical condition ‘he was unaware of’

A Queensland man who was thought to have died from a snake bite on the weekend when helping a friend did not have any venom in his body, a toxicology report has found.

Donald Morrison, who was in his 60s, was attending a reunion at Koumala state school in Queensland on Saturday when he was reportedly bitten on the arm and chest while removing the reptile that had coiled around his friend’s leg.

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Queensland man in 60s dies from snake bite after removing animal from friend’s leg

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Ambulance service uncertain of the species that bit the man but says symptoms point to a brown snake

A man in his 60s has died from a snake bite in central Queensland, after helping to remove a snake which had coiled around his friend’s leg.

Two men were treated by the Queensland Ambulance Service in Koumala, a town 60km south of Mackay, shortly after 6.30pm on Saturday evening.

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Scientists battle to save Guam kingfisher after snakes introduced

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A species almost wiped out by tree snakes is being returned to the wild and, eventually, to its Pacific island home

As arks go, the shipping container that has been placed inside Sedgwick County Zoo, in Wichita, Kansas, looks an unlikely vehicle for saving species.

Nevertheless, work there is expected to play a key role in undoing one of the world’s worst conservation disasters: the accidental introduction of brown tree snakes to the Pacific island of Guam. The snakes’ arrival, at the end of the second world war, eventually wiped out huge numbers of indigenous birds, mammals, and lizards including the Guam kingfisher, the Guam rail, and the Guam flycatcher.

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Invasive snake wrestled into submission by hunters is Florida’s longest

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Video of capture of Burmese python measured at 19ft – as long as an adult giraffe is tall – was posted on Instagram

A snake believed to be the longest invasive Burmese python ever recorded was captured by two Florida hunters after a mighty struggle.

Stephen Gauta and Jake Waleri caught the humungous reptile in Big Cypress national preserve near the Everglades in southern Florida earlier this week after it lunged at Waleri, 22, who then wrestled it back to the ground.

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Snake on a plane forces South African pilot to make emergency landing

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Rudolph Erasmus praised for ‘great airmanship’ after discovery of deadly cobra in cockpit of private plane

A South African pilot was forced to make an emergency landing after a 5ft deadly cobra slithered past his side and curled up under his seat.

Rudolph Erasmus was flying four passengers in a private plane at 11,000ft when he said he felt a “cold sensation” on his hip. Thinking that his water bottle might have been leaking, Erasmus looked down instead at the sight of a highly venomous snake disappearing underneath him.

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Florida researchers capture invasive pythons by attaching GPS collars to prey

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Burmese pythons, which can grow up to 20ft, have surged in south Florida due to snake owners releasing them when they get too big

To better find, capture and remove invasive Burmese pythons in Florida’s Everglades, a team of researchers is attaching location-tracking collars on animals such as raccoons and opossums that the predatory snakes feed on.

Burmese pythons have surged in south Florida in recent years, because many snake owners release them into the wild after they become too large to take care of.

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Three dead boa constrictors discovered at Carbeth Loch near Glasgow

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SSPCA says circumstances of incident suspicious as its launches appeal for information about the snakes

An animal rights charity is appealing for information after the bodies of three snakes were found at a fly-tipping spot near Glasgow.

The Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) said the boa constrictors were discovered by a member of the public at a site near Carbeth Loch in Blanefield.

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Florida teen wins top prize by capturing 28 pythons in annual competition

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1,000 people participated in the annual challenge, which removed 231 unwanted pythons from the wild

A 19-year-old south Florida man captured 28 Burmese pythons in a 10-day competition created to increase awareness about the threat the invasive snakes pose to state ecology.

Matthew Concepcion was among the 1,000 people from 32 states, Canada and Latvia who participated in the annual challenge, which removed 231 of the unwanted pythons, the Florida fish and wildlife conservation commission said.

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Python swallows woman at plantation in Indonesia

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Body of 54-year-old worker found in stomach of 7-metre snake on island of Sumatra

A woman was found dead in the stomach of a 7-metre python at a rubber plantation where she worked in Indonesia, according to local reports.

The woman, identified as Jahrah, 54, went to work on the plantation in Jambi province, on the island of Sumatra, on Sunday morning and her husband reported her missing when she did not return home that evening.

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Trouser snakes: US man accused of smuggling three reptiles in his pants

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New Yorker accused of hiding large Burmese pythons in trousers while crossing from Canada in July could face 20-year sentence

A New York City man faces up to 20 years in prison for allegedly attempting to smuggle three large snakes across the US-Canada border – in his pants.

Queens resident Calvin Bautista, 36, is accused of hiding three Burmese pythons while on a bus crossing into the US at the Champlain port of entry in New York state on 15 July 2018, the Associated Press reported.

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‘Out of a horror movie’: Pennsylvania officer shoots snake around man’s neck

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Officer was able to fire one shot that injured 15ft reptile because its midportion, not head, was around the victim’s neck

A police officer in Pennsylvania fatally shot a 15ft snake in the head on Wednesday as it was coiled around a man’s neck while he was in cardiac arrest.

Just after 2 pm, two officers from the Upper Macungie Township police department responded to a call that a male with a snake wrapped around his neck.

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Rattlesnakes thrive in California amid increasingly hotter temperatures

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Study finds pacific rattlesnakes, which can’t control their own temperature, prefer places where the climate averages 80F

Many species are suffering at the hands of a warmer world, but one California inhabitant seems to be enjoying hotter temperatures: the pacific rattlesnake. Their populations across the south-west are thriving, according to a study by researchers at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and the University of Michigan.

The study found that when given the choice, rattlesnakes – which cannot control their own temperature and rely on the environment for warmth – actually prefer to live in places where the climate averages more than 80F, suggesting they’re likely to do well as the planet gets hotter.

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Homeowner trying to smoke out snake infestation burns down own house

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Maryland home suffers over $1m in damage after cunning coal-based pest control plan backfires

A homeowner in Maryland tried to fight a snake infestation with coal, only to burn their own house down, causing more than $1m in damage. Nobody was injured.

Montgomery county fire and rescue officials notified the public about the blaze right after it happened on 23 November, describing a conflagration that left a “large two-three-story single family house with heavy fire throughout structure and roof collapse”.

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Snake shocks Sydney shoppers by slithering along supermarket spice shelf

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Shopper Helaina Alati, who happens to be a former snake catcher, was luckily on hand to return the three-metre python to nearby bushland

A three-metre-long python has surprised shoppers in a Sydney supermarket by slithering along a shelf in the spice section with a Woolworths spokesperson saying it was a “slippery and rare customer”.

“Only in Australia!” Hilary Leigh wrote in a Facebook post when sharing a video of the large snake at the Glenorie supermarket in Sydney’s north-west.

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Venomous cobra missing in Texas after escaping from owner’s house

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  • West African banded cobra has not been yet found
  • Members of public warned not to approach snake

It can’t claim to be native to Grand Prairie, Texas, but a 6ft west African banded cobra was believed on Friday still to be roaming through the city of almost 200,000 on the outskirts of Dallas after escaping from its owner’s house.

Related: No 10 refuses stay of execution for alpaca Geronimo who tested positive for bovine TB

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