snake: Quick Facts

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The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last updated

Nov. 8, 2026

News •

Snakes on the move and pets at risk as weather warms • Nov. 5, 2026, 3:36 PM ET (ABC News (Australia))

This snake cartwheels to escape danger • Oct. 19, 2026, 11:00 AM ET (Popular Science)

Facts

Also Known As	serpent • Serpentes

Photos and Videos

timber rattlesnake

snake: hatching

Peringuey's sidewinding adder

Yellow anaconda (Eunectes notaeus) with distinctive yellow and black patterned scales, lying on green vegetation.

What a rattlesnake's rattle looks like

Close-up of a king cobra overlaid with question marks, a drawn crown, and an arrow pointing to the snake

Learn how the predatory pilot black snake strikes, suffocates, and consumes whole its rodent prey

Observe a female black pilot snake hatch a clutch of eggs and a newborn use its egg tooth to hatch

How the Pilot Black Snake Uses Its Scales to Glide

See All Videos, Images and Interactives →

Topics

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Mute swan with cygnet. (birds)

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Sea otter (Enhydra lutris), also called great sea otter, rare, completely marine otter of the northern Pacific, usually found in kelp beds. Floats on back. Looks like sea otter laughing. saltwater otters

Animal Group Names

Nine-Banded Armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus).

A Is for Animal Quiz

The bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) is seen in Switzerland on December 2024

Animal Factoids

Rattlesnake. A rattle snake coiled on rock. Rattlesnakes are poisonous snakes that have rattles in their tails. Reptile. Possibly mounted or stuffed taxidermy snake.

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