Many people already have a natural fear of snakes and cannot stand the sight of the slithering creatures. In the United States, poisonous and venomous snakes aren’t commonly roaming about in the wild , like they do in places, such as Australia and South America. The closest most people come to a dangerous snake is the kind seen behind the glass at a zoo. In this article, you will learn about the deadliest snakes in the world, including the python and anaconda.
Pythons and Anacondas
Pythons and anacondas are not venomous , but just as dangerous. Pythons are found in Asia and Africa, while anacondas live in the tropical jungles of South America. Locals and travelers have come face to face with these creatures and for the unlucky, they are not injected with venom, but instead, strangled to death.
Pythons and anacondas are known to kill by constriction. They are equipped with rather sharp teeth that hold onto their prey, while they rely on constriction to do their dirty work. Once prey is secured with their teeth, they coil around the victim and squeeze until there isn’t any space left to breathe. As the victim tries in vain to inhale, the snake simple squeezes harder. The tightness is so powerful that the blood no longer flows. The victim usually succumbs to cardiac arrest or stroke , not asphyxia as most people tend to think.
There are other snakes that use constriction to kill their prey, such as the king snake and gopher snake, but it is the python and anaconda that are the best known out of the constrictors , have you ever seen the movie ‘Anaconda’ that starred Jennifer Lopez and Jon Voight. These snakes have a pretty scary reputation because of their cold-blooded nature that sees them killing and eating humans every once in a while.
The Rattlesnake
In North America, it is the rattlesnake that strikes fear into the hearts of residents living within close proximity to the snake with a rattle attached to the end of its tail. As a member of the Pit Viper family, the rattlesnake can strike a victim up to two-thirds of its body length. The most venomous species in North America is the Eastern Diamondback, where the juveniles pack a harder punch than the adults since they are unable to effectively control the amount of venom they inject into a victim. Most species of rattlesnake possess hemotoxic venom, which kills prey by destroying tissue, degenerating organs and causing a disruption in blood clotting. Paralysis, loss of limp and death are common reactions that come with the bite from a rattlesnake. Common symptoms that arise when someone is bit by a rattlesnake include drooling, trouble breathing and massive hemorrhaging. When an antivenin is applied in time, the death rate associated with a bite is reduced to less than 4%.