Famous Reptiles

An extremely rare deformed snake with two heads has been found in the wild. Animals that are born with two or more heads have a condition called polycephaly, which is more common in reptiles than in mammals. One possible cause of this condition is if the embryo doesn't entirely complete a division. Alternatively, two separate embryos may fuse together incompletely, creating the Orthrus-like creature. A 2013 paper in the Journal of Comparative Pathology found that from a sample of 4,087 pit viper hatchlings, only three hatched with two heads. Nick Evans, a South Africa-based snake rescuer, was asked to collect the two-headed Southern Brown Egg-eater—a harmless species—from a man who had come across the snake in his garden. The man, who lives in Ndwedwe, a town north of Durban, didn't want anyone to harm the strange creature, so he put it in a bottle and asked Evans to take it away to safety. There are cases of two-headed snakes that have hatched in captivity and occasionally ...

image: Young Australian eastern blue-tongue lizard (Tiliqua scincoides). view more  Credit: Carla Edwards Young Australian eastern blue-tongue lizards ( Tiliqua scincoides ) are every bit as clever as adults, researchers have found. Life is hard for baby blue-tongues. As soon as they are born, they are on their own, with neither parental support nor protection. Adults of the species can grow to 600 millimetres long and enjoy the benefits of thick scales and a powerful bite, but the young are much smaller and thus mor...

This story was originally published in March 2019. As I dug through about a decade of wildlife photography, I was surprised to see how many different animals I had been lucky enough to photograph while exploring Maine — and the good memories dredged up by those images. I'd nearly forgotten about the beaver that I watched carry wood across a pond in Aroostook County, and the newborn fawn I spied ambling across a field near Moosehead Lake. Then there was the time I visited Eastern Egg Rock, an island covered with nesting puffins, and the boat ride during which I found myself surrounded by a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins. All of this in Maine. Looking back through those photos, I felt extremely fortunate. I'm by no means a professional wildlife photographer. My equipment and knowledge is inferior to those who can confidently claim that title. However, I have learned a thing or two over the years about photographing wildlife in Maine, as an...

Florida wildlife officials have been saying for years that invasive Burmese pythons pose a huge problem for the state's wildlife, but exactly how huge came into shocking focus with the recent capture of a record-setting female that stretched nearly 18 feet, weighed 215 pounds, and contained the remains of an adult deer in its digestive tract. A group of python trackers at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, who captured the snake in December, say it is the largest python ever recorded outside its native habitat. The team found the giant python with the help of a "snitch snake," a male python that carries a surgically implanted transmitter, according to a report from Eyewitness News 7. By releasing these snitches (also called "scout snakes") into the wild during breeding season, scientists can use the transmitters to locate female pythons after the males track them down.  "Large reproductive female pythons are very important to rem...

A picture shows a snorkeler right next to a very large snake, known as an anaconda. Fact Check It's true that this photograph of a snorkeler and a very large snake, an anaconda, is real. We found that it was being used in YouTube video thumbnails. It also appeared in online advertisements in May 2022 with the caption, " Chilling Unedited Nature Photos Ever Captured." A variation of the ad read, "Jarring Photos That Will Show You Another Side Of Nature." However, after clicking the ad we were led to a 60-page slideshow article that didn't even mention the picture. This photograph has not been doctored. Does the picture show a movie being filmed? Is it a fake snake? Who took the photograph ...

This story was originally published in March 2019. As I dug through about a decade of wildlife photography, I was surprised to see how many different animals I had been lucky enough to photograph while exploring Maine — and the good memories dredged up by those images. I'd nearly forgotten about the beaver that I watched carry wood across a pond in Aroostook County, and the newborn fawn I spied ambling across a field near Moosehead Lake. Then there was the time I visited Eastern Egg Rock, an island covered with nesting puffins, and the boat ride during which I found myself surrounded by a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins. All of this in Maine. Looking back through those photos, I felt extremely fortunate. I'm by no means a professional wildlife photographer. My equipment and knowledge is inferior to those who can confidently claim that title. However, I have learned a thing or two over the years about photographing wildlife in Maine, as an...

An impressive and ruthless predator, Komodo dragons are the largest living lizards on Earth. Their success is based on a very deadly bite, but there's more than meets the eye to this endagnered, cold-blooded carnivore. Image via Pixabay. Reptiles used to rule the Earth, in the form of dinosaurs; today, they're no longer top dogs. Some of their larger ancestors, such as crocodiles or alligators, bear hints of that fearsome legacy. Of others, such as lizards, for example, we tend to think of more as critters or cutesy pets basking under a heat lamp. But not all lizards are born equal, and they can be quite fearsome creatures. The Komodo dragon ( Varanus komodoensis ) is living proof. Not only is it the largest, heaviest lizard on the planet, but the dragon is armed with vicious, shark-like serrated teeth and a potent toxic bite that bleeds its prey dry. A living dragon Komodo dragons are one branch of the...

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A screenshot from a new video of an eastern kingsnake eating a timber rattlesnake. (Image credit: Georgia DNR) (opens in new tab) A daring snake with a big appetite was recently caught in the act of chowing down on an even larger snake. Video footage showed the ravenous reptile as it swallowed a venomous relative headfirst in a mighty gulp.  The unusual sight was filmed in Haddock, Georgia by 82-year-old Tom Slagle, who was surprised to find the entwined serpents near his mailbox; the gruesome meal was already underway when Slagle began recording it. On June 8, officials with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources shared the video on Facebook (opens in new tab) , with the caption: "It's a snake eat snake world out there."  In the video, an eastern kingsnake ( Lampropeltis getula ) can be seen slowly moving its flexible lower jaw down the body of a much girthier timber rattlesnake ( Crotalus horridus ) — the rattlesnake's head and par...

For years I've been dodging lizards while I walk down the sidewalk. They skitter across the cracked cement, racing from one patch of grass to the next. I'm used to it. In Florida, lizards are like New York City rats. They find ways to sneak their scrawny little bodies into your home. And they have the chutzpah to obstruct your path. As a species, the lizards decided that the best time to relocate is exactly when a human walks by. What happens next is usually an impromptu display of ballet, petit allegro tiptoes across the sidewalk to avoid them. The lizard is Florida's No. 1 nemesis. Aside from hurricanes. And crocodiles. And humidity. Anti-vaxxers. The media. Old people driving. Florida men. Tampa. Yeah, lizards are up there. But the dance of evading the commonplace puny lizards doesn't compare to the terror their big brothers have wrought on the Florida population. Iguanas found their way to Florida in the 1960s and thought, this looks like a nice place to destroy. In...