| 1 | Common mock viper |
Maximum length: 77cm.
Also known as Psammodynastes pulverulentus, this species is widespread across southeast Asia, inhabiting China, Indonesia and Thailand alike. For millions of years, the common mock viper has pulled the wool over the eyes of its hungry bird predators, convincing them that it’s actually the highly venomous Malayan pitviper.
The Malayan pitviper lives in similar areas to this species (Thailand, Vietnam), and has an LD50 venom potency of 1.24mg, easily outstripping a cottonmouth or copperhead. 20% of victims develop grotesquely swollen limbs, and some die to cerebral haemorrhages.
Malayan pitvipers are found in farmland, forests near plantations and bamboo thickets, and so is their close mimic, the common mock viper. This copycat species not only has similarly brown colours, but is able to change its pupil shape. When undisturbed, their pupils are round, but if picked up, they can suddenly shift to sharply vertical, like all vipers.
Common mock vipers are also variable in colour, as males are tan similarly to dry wood, while females are brown or reddish. This is another mimic feature, as Malayan pitvipers are highly variable as well. Then there’s the bulky triangular head, a signature of the viper family.
Common mock vipers have a bold personality, faking it until they make it, acting like their fangs really are full of deadly venom. When threatened, they coil up and lunge forward viciously, with their eyes never breaking contact. Despite this, their actual venom is mild at best.
| 2 | Turtle-headed sea snake |
Maximum length: 103cm.
The turtle-headed sea snake (Emydocephalus annulatus) is a medium-sized sea snake lives in Australia, from Great Barrier Reef to Shark Bay in the west. It’s a fish egg eater which moves along coral reefs slowly and grazes them like a cow, eating constant small meals rather than one show-stopping meal.
Turtle-headed sea snakes are sometimes found in groups, and are known for having several colour morphs. Some are nearly black, while others are grey-banded, but another large chunk have sharply contrasting black and white bands. This has a close resemblance to the blue-lipped sea krait, a dangerously neurotoxic species which ranges from Fiji to Thailand.
The blue-lipped sea krait (Laticauda laticaudata) has one of the most potent venoms on Earth, which is only counteracted by a low venom yield. Meanwhile, the turtle-headed sea snake has a relatively mild venom. Instead, they use copycat patterns to stay alive, convincing large fish and sea eagles that they’re actually their deadly neighbour. In the blurriness of water, 2-5 metres deep in colourful coral reefs, the disguise can be almost total.
Even scientists on high-tech expeditions sometimes mistake this species for more dangerous sea snakes. The mimicry is proven to work, as studies on the turtle-headed sea snake have found that fish fled from the banded versions, but didn’t react to pure black ones.
| 3 | Indian wolf snake |
Maximum length: 84cm.
The Ceylon krait (Bugarus ceylonicus) is a dangerously venomous species which lives in the forested hilly areas of central Sri Lanka. It’s a slow-moving snake, which is fairly hesitant to strike unless the aggressor has a death wish and keeps on provoking it. However, its venom is severely neurotoxic, and has the power to kill within 12 hours if antivenom isn’t administered.
Such a powerful venom creates a nice slot for a local snake to copy its patterns, and gain a shield of deception against local predators. This time, the snake to have taken advantage is the Indian wolf snake, AKA Lycodon aulicus, a non-venomous species which mainly sticks to the ground.
The Indian wolf snake has a vicious temperament, with razor sharp teeth that rip through skin like A4 paper, yet completely lacks venom, preferring to constrict its prey. Its patterns are similar to the Celyon krait, with a dark base of scales overlaid with multiple thin white bands. In both snakes, the white bands aren’t neat and rectangular, but wavy and bendy. The main difference is that Celyon kraits tend to be almost black rather than chocolatey brown.
Indian wolf snakes are also found all over India, where they mimic the common krait (Bungarus caeruleus), which is just as deadly as its Sri Lankan cousin.
| 4 | Many spotted catsnake |
Maximum length: 187cm.
This Hong Kong snake has craftily disguised itself as the Taiwanese habu, AKA the pointed-scaled viper (Protobothrops mucrosquamatus). This venomous species dwells on the ground, and ranges from central China to Vietnam. Its venom contains an abundance of metalloproteinases and phospholipidase A2, with one patient suffering respiratory distress as a result of tissue swelling within the lungs.
Copying this species is an intelligent strategy, and the many-spotted catsnake (Boiga multomaculata) shares the Taiwanese habu’s brown tone, overlaid with even darker brown blotches. Their eyes are extremely similar, as both have gold irises and vertical pupils. One of the only clear differences is an arrow-shaped marking on the many-spotted catsnake’s head, which the habu lacks.
Many-spotted catsnakes don’t just rely on disguise. They keep up their end of the bargain and actually try to act like a viper, engaging in theatrics like a mock display of aggression. They coil their lower body into an S-shape and deliver mock lunges, and occasionally real snapping bites.
This doesn’t last too long though. When they give up, they flee rapidly up a tree and stay there. The many-spotted catsnake actually has a venom of its own, but this is secreted from their rear fangs, and is so weak and feeble that it’s never been recorded to hurt anyone.
| 5 | Viperine water snake (Natrix maura) |
Maximum length: 96cm.
Almost anyone who encounters this western European snake mistakes it for the asp viper, the most venomous snake in France. Asp vipers have an LD50 score of 1mg, which is stronger than a prairie rattlesnake. The lower venom yield is where they fall down, but they’re toxic enough to foxes, badgers, and wolf predators that the viperine watersnake (Natrix maura) has evolved a similar appearance, with a grey-brown base of scales overlaid with darker grey blotches.
Natrix maura is closely related to the grass snake (Natrix natrix), and spends much of its time in ponds and lakes. When threatened, they go through the entire repertoire of vipers: hissing, flattening their head in a triangular shape, and performing bluff strikes at the intruder with their mouths closed.
Their body is significantly thicker than a grass snake’s, and their eyes crueller, despite having no venom of their own. A 2014 study even found that the viperine watersnake’s hiss had a similar acoustic frequency to actual vipers, making it indistinguishable for predators.
The fact that this species is called the viperine water snake is an easy giveaway. This copycat snake lives in Spain, Portgual, France, western Italy, and northern Africa.
| 6 | Xenodon werneri |
Maximum length: 75.7cm.
This South American snake just piles on layer after layer of deception. It lives in jungles and is green, meaning that you probably won’t see it. If you do peel back some branches and stare one right in the face, you’ll probably mistake it for the venomous Bothrops bilineatus and run for your life.
Xenodon werneri is a harmless snake which lives in the rainforests of French Guiana and Suriname. It’s a mysterious species, with little known of its diet or life cycle, but its maximum recorded length in females was 76cm. In males, the record was 62cm, and this snake is primarily green, with a creamy yellow belly. Its head is significantly wider than its neck, and each scale has a tiny black edge.
All this is very similar to Bothrops bilineatus, the common tree-dwelling member of the savagely venomous Bothrops clan. The venom of Bothrops bilineatus lacks neurotoxins, melting through skin tissue instead using a variety of cytotoxins. Bites aren’t an epidemic, but in certain locations like Leticia, Colombia, this species causes the second highest amount of snakebites.
Lacking its own venom, Xenodon werneri instead made a logical decision: shifting its appearance towards its dangerously venomous neighbour, in order to scare birds away and live a live of peace. This snake is poorly researched, but believed to be semiaquatic, judging by the shape of its nostrils.
| 7 | Pink-headed reed snake |
Maximum length: 46cm.
The pink-headed reed snake (Calamaria schelgeli) is a harmless species found in Singapore, Malaysia and southern Thailand. This forest snake is not only a mimic, but doubles its deception points by copying two venomous species – the Malaysian blue coral snake, and the red-headed krait.
Both of these species are utterly deadly, with a powerful neurotoxic venom capable of causing respiratory failure. One Malaysian blue coral snake victim even died in 5 minutes. Both species have a vivid red head with a bluish body, and somewhere along the way, the pink-headed reed snake decided that this combination was the ultimate get out of jail free card for slithering through the Malaysian undergrowth unscathed.
Pink-headed reed snakes are most common in forest undergrowth, where they swallow up insects and worms crawling past. This twiggy, branch environment is very similar to the snakes they copy.
This species is relatively unresearched, but known to burrow under forest substrate for cover. The main difference is that blue coral snakes possess vivid red on their head and body, whereas the pink-headed reed snake only has a red head. It also has a strong iridescent sheen which its venomous neighbours lack. To be safe, never touch a southeast Asian snake with a bright red head.
| 8 | Rough-scaled sand boa |
Maximum length: around 1 metre.
A thick-bodied Indian snake, which burrows into loose soil and peeps out in order to ambush prey. Rough-scaled sand boas (Eryx conicus) are found in the vast majority of India, from the moist Western Ghats mountains of the south to the drier northwest. They’re also found in eastern Pakistan, western Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
This species is a constrictor, but lacks any venom, and can easily fall victim to predatory hawks, despite its squeezing talents. Fortunately, Eryx conicus has disguised itself as one of India’s “big 4” venomous snakes – the Russell’s viper.
In terms of raw fear produced worldwide, the Russell’s viper undoubtedly ranks near the top. It kills the highest number of Indians, lurking menacingly in crop fields and seasonally flooded rice fields. It barely moves for most of the day, but the lunging bites that explode from nowhere can be like lightning. The bite of the Russell’s viper is unbelievably painful, causing rotting flesh and necessitating amputations.
If a snake was presented the option of looking like this killer, then it would undoubtedly take it, but the rough-scaled sand boa has done it the hard way, evolving a copycat appearance over millions of years. Its bloated, blotchy patterns bare a strong resemblance to its venomous neighbor, as does its thick, crushing body. Rough-scaled sand boas also have the ability to play dead, in addition to their mimicry.
| 9 | Eight-lined kukri snake |
Maximum length: 68cm.
The eight-lined kukri snake (Oligodon octolineatus) is a non-venomous species of Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. This species resides in many habitats, including forests, farmland, parks and gardens. While this species has a pair of razor sharp front fangs, they have no venom whatsoever, and no ability to kill large predators, whether it’s a human being or predatory hawk. Nevertheless, the eight-lined kukri snake has a solution: mimicking its neighbour the banded coral snake (Calliophis intestinalis).
This species is a close relative of the Malaysian blue coral snake mentioned earlier on this list. The banded coral snake is shy, yet dangerously venomous, and is renowned for its massively long venom glands, which stretch 25% of the way down its body.
Its venom primarily consists of three-finger toxins which cause flaccid paralysis in its victims. Rather than overexciting neuronal connections between the muscles and frying everything (spastic paralysis), this is more traditional paralysis: when brain signals decrease so far that all movement is impossible.
The banded coral snake is utterly lethal, and over time, the eight-lined kukri snake grew to resemble them more closely. The more similar they looked, the more predators mistakenly grew to fear them, giving them a survival advantage. Therefore, the genes of these lookalike patterns spread, and the two species gradually become more and more similar. Both species have sleek, parallel red and black stripes, and heads which are barely distinct from their bodies, plus a pair of beady black eyes.
| 10 | Mexican milk snake |
Maximum length: around 1 metre.
The Texas coral snake (Micrurus tener) is a common species in the eastern half of the state, as well western Louisiana, southern Arkansas, and northern Mexico. It’s closely related to Florida’s eastern coral snake, and its venom can supposedly kill a victim in just two minutes.
Texas coral snakes are covered with black, red and yellow bands, with the red and yellow bands always touching. The venom of this species is filled with powerful neurotoxins, which lead to death via respiratory failure, causing the lungs to cease inflating and deflating. Almost all Texan hospitals stock North American Coral Snake Antivenin (NACSA), the official antivenom, and the starting dose is 5 vials.
Maybe you’ve seen one of these horrors, but then again, maybe you haven’t. The Texas coral snake has one of the most extreme lookalikes in the entire snake kingdom – the Mexican milk snake (Lampropeltis annulata).
These harmless snakes also inhabit northern Mexico, spilling into Texas, and are very tricky to distinguish from their venomous neighbour. They’re said to be friendly and docile in captivity, happily accepting any mice chucked to them.
In the rocky, dusty wilds, this peaceful personality may be a disadvantage, but Mexican milk snakes are such a clone of Texas coral snakes that they have an automatic advantage. Picking up this species is perfectly safe, yet the predatory birds of the southern US don’t know this. That fact might be just enough to ensure the Mexican milk snake’s survival, despite their complete lack of venom.