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About This Quiz
Snakes: love them or hate them, they are endlessly fascinating. These legless residents of our planet have had a pretty bad reputation in many cultures. It's not just that a large percentage of them are venomous or stranglers, it's also that in Abrahamaic tradition, they're literally responsible for the fall of mankind from the Garden of Eden. That is, God is said to have taken their legs off as punishment for tricking humanity into eating the fruit of the Forbidden Tree.
What's interesting about this story is that it has a certain accuracy to it. Snakes probably evolve from an ancestor that had legs, probably some kind of burrowing lizard. Since then, snakes have diverged into more than 3,000 separate species, some absolutely harmless and others extremely dangerous. Some are quite scary to look at while others are pretty darn cute. It's important to be able to tell the bad from the good, for your safety and that of the more benign snakes who play a useful role in ecosystems. After all, you certainly don't want to kill an innocent garter snake because you've mistaken it for a ribbon snake. So let's see how much you know about our scaly friends!
How can you tell the difference between ribbon snakes and garter snakes?
Ribbon snakes have a thinner body.
Ribbon snakes have a narrower head.
Ribbon snakes have a white spot in front of their eyes.
All of the above.
It's common for gardeners and farmers to mistake a garter snake for a ribbon snake. The garter snake is helpful at keeping grasshoppers at bay by eating them. The eastern ribbon snake eats "cold-blooded" prey, including fish, newts and salamanders, frogs (both adults and tadpoles), earthworms, spiders, caterpillars, and a great variety of other insects.
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What is unique about the Egyptian Cobra?
Its ability to squeeze its prey to death.
Its full hood and upright posture.
The threatening full hood and intimidating upright posture make the Egyptian Cobra look bigger and more formidable an opponent than one slithering on the floor. Although one of the most iconic snakes on Earth, don't get too close! Their venomous bite can kill you.
Its red and blue coloring.
Its high-pitched hissing.
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What does rattlesnake taste like?
Dirt
A rodent
Pepperoni
Bony Fish
“Rattlesnake tastes, when breaded and fried, like a sinewy, half-starved tilapia,” according to The New York Times. The experience is similar to eating a bony fish. And we all thought the answer would be chicken!
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How fast can a sidewinder move?
5 miles per hour
10 miles per hour
14 miles per hour
18 miles per hour
The sidewinder slithers rapidly along the desert dunes reaching speeds up to 18 miles per hour! Their very special gait enables only a small portion of skin to touch the hot desert sand at a time. The way it buries itself in the sand is even scarier.
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How do a snake's jaws work?
Double hinge and ligaments; neither is fixed to the skull
Snakes' jaws are only connected by ligaments and both can hinge, to allow the snake to swallow stuff bigger than itself
Single hinge lower jaw; the other jaw is fixed to the skull
Both are attached to the skull by ligaments, but not to each other
Both are free floating
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What is the smallest snake?
Barbados threadsnake
This type of threadsnake was found in Barbados and is the girth of a noodle and only up to 4 inches long!
Burrowing asp
Night adder
Tiger snake
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Which continent is the only one with no snakes?
Australia
Asia
Europe
Antarctica
Snakes can't live where there is no sun half the year - so Antarctica is no home for them!
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What is the taxonomic classification of snakes?
Serpentes
Serpentes is a sub-order within the order of squamata. Snakes are vertebrates in the animalia kingdom.
Arthropod
Arachnid
Vertebrate
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How do snakes reproduce?
They lay eggs
They have live young
They do both 1 and 2
Most snakes lay eggs but those in colder places, where their eggs wouldn't survive, tend to bear live young. Snakes are generally not very involved parents.
They reproduce asexually
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What is the biggest snake?
Burmese python
Black mamba
Green anaconda
There's another snake that's longer, but the green anaconda is twice the girth. They can grow to 550 pounds and 29 feet.
African rock python
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What is the distinctive feature of the cobra?
Three eyes
It is always the same shade of green
It has a non-forked tongue
Its hood
Cobras are recognizable by their hoods. The only one that does not have one is the coral snake, sometimes called the "American cobra."
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What island is the only full country to not have any native snakes?
New Zealand
New Zealand is extremely paranoid about protecting native flora and fauna so they have kept snakes away!
USA
Madagascar
Maldives
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What is the fear of snakes called?
Reptophobia
Snakophobia
Scalophobia
Ophiophobia
Ophiophobia means the fear of snakes, and is related to herpetophobia, which is the fear of reptiles and amphibians.
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By what name is the Brahminy Blind Snake also known?
Flowerpot snake
This is a burrowing snake that lives mostly in soil. Their nickname comes from how they moved around the world in the plant trade, hiding in flowerpots. They really are blind and can be mistaken for large earthworms.
Cupcake snake
Kitchen snake
Brushwood snake
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How many ribs do snakes have?
Up to 400+
Snakes can have omore than 400 ribs, depending on their size. Their organs and muscles are lined up along their bodies in a row so they need ribs to protect them.
Fewer than 100
100-200
200-400
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Which snake can strike the fastest?
Diamondback rattlesnake
Death adder
All snakes strike pretty fast but the death adder is the fastest. It moves so rapidly that you can't see it with the naked eye.
Gaboon vipter
Horned viper
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What are the rattles on a rattleskin made of?
Bone
Keratin
The rattles are actually made of keratin, the same stuff as hair and nails. Rattlesnakes accrue more rattles as they get older.
Cartilage
Skin
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What is the most common snake in the USA?
Rattlensake
Grass snake
Garter snake
The garter snake is technically a venomous one but its neurotoxin is mild and not harmful to humans.
Cobra
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Snakes grow new fangs all the time. How long is typical for them to keep a set?
one year
six to eight months
six to ten weeks
Snakes are always getting new fangs, and keep them from six to ten weeks.
one week
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Below what temperature is it too cold for snakes to function well?
80 degrees Fahrenheit
30 degrees Fahrenheit
60 degrees Fahrenheit
50 degrees Fahrenheit
Snakes are reptiles so they have to bask to get energy from the sun. A nice warm rock is their ideal place for this. If it's too cold, they go into a state similar to hibernating, called "brumation."
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Which is the only venomous snake with round pupils?
Coral snake
The coral snake is not actually very dangerous, but don't let its cute little face confuse you - it's still a bad thing to be bitten by one.
Lancehead
Copperhead
Boomslang
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Which is the longest viper?
Russell's viper
Bushmaster
This snake hails from Central America and death by its venom is horrible, with nausea, vomiting, and extreme pain.
Moorish viper
Saw-scaled viper
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How might you recognize the Moorish viper?
It is bright acid yellow
It has a zig-zag pattern
This beautiful viper lives in rocky mountains and steppes, and is most active at sunset when it ambushes prey.
It is pure black
It has a V-shaped head
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Can snakes hear?
No, they have no ears
Yes, with their tongue
Yes, they have internal ears
Snakes have ears, they just don't stick out of their heads the way ours do!
Yes, with their scales
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Are snakes slimy to touch?
No, they are smooth
Snakes are nice and smooth to touch. Some of them have more ridges on their scales than others, but even the individual scales are smooth. Some snakes actually feel quite nice!
Yes, like a snail
Yes, like a fish
No, they are more prickly
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What field of science has as its symbol two snakes twined around a staff?
Medicine
Snakes are the symbol of Asclepius, who is the Greek god of medicine.
Physics
Astronomy
Chemistry
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At what age does a snake stop growing?
One year
Depends on the species
It doesn't
Snakes do grow slower as adults but they never actually stop.
About 1/4 of the way through its life, however long that is
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Which country has the highest number of human deaths from snakebite?
India
About 50,000 Indians die from snakebites every year. Of course, that doesn't include stranglings, which thankfully are very rare.
China
USA
Australia
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How do snakes smell?
With their tongue
Snakes smell with their tongue. The fork helps them triangulate where smells are coming from so than can move toward their prey!
With their nose, of course
With their skin
They can't
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What percentage of snakes are venomous?
33 percent
There are 3,000 snake species and roughly a third are venomous. However that doesn't mean they're deadly. Some have a milder poison.
50 percent
80 percent
10 percent
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Can a snake poison itself?
No, that's ridiculous
Of course, they're animals too
A snake can indeed poison itself if it accidentally misses and bites itself!
Only if it swallows the poison
No, but it can poison another snake of the same species
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The common krait is one of the Big Four deadly snakes of India. Which of the snakes below is NOT one of the other three?
Indian cobra
Saw-scaled viper
Inland taipan
These four snakes are the biggest killers in India, and are considered extremely dangerous. If you're in the Indian countryside, learn to spot them!
Russell's viper
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What is the most toxic snake?
Tiger snake
Boomslang
Inland taipan
This snake is the most deadly in terms of needing the minimum amount of its venom to guarantee a human will die.
Copperhead
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Which snake has the longest fangs?
Boomslang
Gaboon viper
This snake has the longest fangs, but not the longest relative to its head. That distinction belongs to the Russell's viper.
Copperhead
Russell's viper
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What is the longest snake?
King cobra
Yellow anaconda
Burmese python
Reticulated python
It's so big that it can swallow a deer, or even a person!
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