| 1 | Hispaniola boa |
Maximum length: 250-300cm.
The Hispaniola boa is the largest snake on its namesake Caribbean island, which is split between Haiti in the west and Dominican Republic in the east. It’s a ground snake which lacks much aggression, but has crushing constriction abilities, and a relatively curious nature.
This species is much closer in personality to the boa constrictor than the lazy emerald tree boa. The Hispaniola boa is constantly prowling the Dominican Republic countryside, searching for clues about scent trails and future meals. Locals are constantly stepping over them, bringing their cars to a screeching halt or removing them from their back gardens.
Hispaniola boas are even comfortable in urban environments, and have been found 20 metres high in trees, despite not being a tree snake. One tale of curiosity involved a Hispaniola boa that discovered a large aviary in the National Zoo in Santa Domingo. The entire aviary was surrounded by a kind of netting which allowed the birds massive freedom to fly around, and gave the tourists the ability to watch them.
Eventually, the Hispaniola boa stumbled upon this bustling bird chamber. It worked out how to thread through the netting, and infiltrated the large aviary with ease. It returned repeatedly over the course of several months in 1989, during which it swallowed at least 10 birds.
| 2 | Southern brown egg eater |
Maximum length: 1.2 metres.
The southern brown egg eater (Dasypeltis inornata) is a species of eastern South Africa, as well as the tiny nation of Eswatini. This species is found in thick vegetation bordering fields, woodlands and clumps of trees near villages, where they spend all day searching for their main foodstuff: eggs.
This species isn’t quick in the slightest, yet they never stop investigating their surroundings. Southern brown egg eaters progress along at a steady pace, searching for scent particles that may lead them to a hidden egg stash. Their sensitivity is immense; an intact egg doesn’t exactly smell, yet southern brown egg eaters can seek them out using these lingering scent particles alone.
Dasypeltis inornata is curious and inquisitive because it has to be. Eggs aren’t going to roll towards them, so they have to get searching and find the nooks and crannies where they’re stashed away.
This species is just relentless, and always finds an egg in the end. Birds know this as well. When Daspypeltis inorata approaches, they let out a series of shrieking squawks, alerting all other birds in the area to the potential threat.
Watching this species swallow an egg is a grotesque sight, like a bowling ball is moving down their throat. Some species like Florida’s scarlet snake hack open eggs and drink the yolk, but Dasypeltis inornata just swallows them whole. This is a non-venomous species, which may bite if manhandled, but cannot cause serious damage.
| 3 | Ecuador milk snake |
Maximum length: 160cm.
The US is full of kingsnake species (Lampropeltis genus), but this species is the most southerly of all. The Ecuadorian milk snake is found in Costa Rica, Panama, western Colombia, and western Ecuador, where they finally fizzle out just before reaching Peru. Wherever this species lives, it’s always common and regularly encountered.
Ecuadorian milk snakes mainly prey on mammals, including the common house mouse (Mus musculus). They constrict this prey in a series of tight coils, but first, they have to track them down. Ecuadorian milk snakes are active foragers, and are always flecking their tongues. Once they’ve picked up a scent on the wind or a grass tuft, Ecuadorian milk snakes will go wherever that scent takes them.
This species has a particular tendency to invade farmsteads in its relentless pursuit of rodents. The Ecuadorian milk snake couldn’t care less if a door is locked, as they can thread through holes barely bigger than a 50 pence piece. They have no respect for human property, which you can hardly blame them for, as they’d probably been prowling Panama’s hills for millions of years before humans showed up.
Ecuadorian milk snakes tend to be found in green, grassy fields near villages rather than forests. It’s likely that they invade mammal burrows as well, like their US kingsnake cousins.
| 4 | Southern African rock python |
Maximum length: around 6 metres.
The image above was taken in the Soutpansberg mountain range in South Africa’s far north. At first, it seems to show a rocky outcrop, towering over a forest and narrow road far below. But look closer, and you will see a southern African rock python (Python natalensis) stashed between two massive slabs, coiled up calmly, pondering its next move.
According to the photographer, the python above was 1000 metres above the ground far below. The African rock python is the 2nd or 3rd longest snake in the world, and is officially an ambush predator, yet is far more curious than this suggests. Rather than waiting patiently below a bush, they’re constantly exploring the African countryside, climbing objects, slithering down grassy fields, and poking their heads into barns to see if prey are sheltering there.
African rock pythons have no problem with climbing trees 10 metres high, without considering how they’ll get down again. If they see a dark hole in a tree trunk, they’ll instantly begin threading their way through, perhaps poking their head out of the opposite end, or perhaps getting stuck and being forced to reverse. Apparently, if the scent particles are intense enough, they’ll climb towering cliffs out of pure curiosity as well.
Among large snakes worldwide, the reticulated python of Thailand (ranked 1st) is equally energetic and curious. The green anaconda is slightly lazier, wallowing in Amazon waterways, but still more energetic than the emerald tree boa.
It seems that being enormous means that you have greater calorie requirements, and therefore cannot rest on your laurels, forcing you to be more active in seeking out warthogs, hyenas, capybaras, sunbears, wild boars, leopards, or whatever huge meal you require.
| 5 | Boettger’s sipo |
Maximum length: at least 140cm.
Boettger’s sipo (Chironius flavolineatus) is a massively common species in eastern and southern Brazil, which preys exclusively on amphibians and sticks to relatively small meals of 5% of its own body weight. They’re also found in Bolivia, and move exclusively by day, confining all their activity to between 06:43 and 19:20.
This species isn’t difficult to stumble across in southern Brazil, due to their active and curious personality. Boettger’s sipos rarely use ambush tactics, preferring to seek out their own meals, with no patience for being patient. Their diet consists of nearly 100% amphibians, and Boettger’s sipo searches far and wide for clues as to their next meal, a mission which takes them to every possible location.
A 2016 study examined this species in the Brazilian state of Bahia. They found that Boettger’s sipos appeared all over the place: soil, bushes, leaf litter, fallen trees, herbaceous vegetation, in ponds. Their wider habitats included forests, urban areas, grasslands, and coastal restinga.
One Boettger’s sipo even appeared 30 metres deep in a cave, despite having no particular adaptions to caves. This added the Cave of the Rabbits in Ibitipoca State Park to the confirmed list of snake caves worldwide. Similarly, Boettger’s sipos aren’t aquatic, but often leap into streams and vanish underwater if threatened.
| 6 | Mozambique spitting cobra |
Maximum length: 181cm.
This species is curious and inquisitive to a dangerous extent. Mozambique spitting cobras (Naja mossambica) inhabit southeast Africa, including Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa. They prey heavily on other snakes, and are even capable of swallowing black mambas. The venom globules they spit travel through the air at 10mph, and can blind victims for several days.
Unlike boomslangs, which rest sleepily on tree branches, Mozambique spitting cobras are interested in everything. They’re always investigating a new corner of the savannah, and regularly stray into villages, towns and farmsteads. More than any other African species, the Mozambique spitting cobra is notorious for entering households. The exact reasons have never been determined, but they can even enter through the plumbing, possibly for the sheer fun of it.
94% of Naja mossambica bites happen indoors, and 81% while the victim sleeps. Don’t count on tiptoing past a Mozambique spitting cobra. They’re fully aware of their environment, and people have been sprayed from bushes without realising that a snake was even there.
The Mozambique spitting cobra isn’t a tree snake, but will climb them if their curiosity is piqued. Likewise for rivers; they’re far from semi-aquatic (like a garter snake), but will swim over a river with ease if scents from the opposite shore prove too intriguing to resist.
| 7 | Wall’s bronzeback |
Maximum length: 150cm
This 80-100cm species lives in western and southern Thailand, crossing the border with peninsular Malaysia. Wall’s bronzeback (Dendrelaphis cyanochloris) has a mild venom, but poses no threat to humans.
This is a thin-bodied snake with an abundance of energy, which is constantly scanning its surroundings for frogs and lizards, its main prey. Wall’s bronzebacks live on branches in forests and forest outskirts, a complex Thai ecosystem of infinite variables, where no day is ever quite the same.
Wall’s bronzebacks are confirmed to prey on geckoes, and compared to other bronzebacks, are recognisable by their electric blue skin beneath their scales. They often spread their scales deliberately to flash predators with colour, attempting to startle them. Wall’s bronzebacks rarely use ambush strategies, and would be terrible if they tried. They’d last just a few minutes before they’d spot a strange shade of green by a distant pond, get excited, and dash off to find a new meal, instantly forgetting their previous plan.
Wall’s bronzeback has much larger eyes than the average Thai bronzeback. These orbs pick up any flickers and inconsistencies in their familiar corner of the forest, which their inquisitive brain automatically analyses. This species also appears in the untouched nature reserves of central Singapore.
| 8 | Coin-marked snake |
Maximum length: 140cm.
A part of the scenery in Israel. Coin-marked snakes range from Turkey to Syria to Lebanon, and belong to the same Hemorrhois genus as Spain’s horseshoe whipsnake. They regularly reach 100cm, and lack even a mild venom. Their survival tactic is mimicry, with beige-brown colours that closely match the local Palestinian viper, aiming to inspire fear.
Coin-marked snakes are easy to find, as they spend hours each day prowling the Israeli countryside at a steady pace. Objects that catch their attention include dark burrows, sudden flickers of movement, and sudden spikes in scent particle readings. Coin-marked snakes have no patience for ambush tactics whatsoever. They’re diurnal rather than nocturnal, and can slither away at lightning speeds if pushed.
Coin-marked snakes prey on both mammals and lizards, and are found in dry scrubland, rocky outcrops and dry hillsides by roads. Israel is full of such areas, and they don’t care that hawks and kites are lurking overhead, searching for them. The coin-marked snake is a confident species, perhaps overconfident, which slithers around the countryside wherever it pleases.
That said, they do have a few extra survival techniques. Firstly, they have parched beige tones which match the dry hillsides they appear on. Secondly, they make sure to retreat to shelter once the day’s hunt is concluded. This species is often spotted poking its head out of dark rock cracks.
| 9 | Yellow-faced whipsnake |
Maximum length: 100cm.
A moderately venomous Australian species which has only caused a handful of deaths in humans. Yellow-faced whipsnakes average at 80cm and inhabit most of Australia’s populous east coast.
This species is the exact opposite of the death adder with which they overlap. Instead of thick, powerfully muscled and lazy, the yellow-faced whipsnake is thin, nimble and curious. This species is always flecking its tongue and suddenly rotating its head at the slightest interesting sight. Their favourite activities include threading along a brick wall, watching humans with a confident expression on their face, and forming mysterious communal gatherings.
Yellow-faced whipsnakes have strayed into backgarden swimming pools before, and they climb trees easily, despite being primarily a ground snake. Their curious, energetic nature probably evolved because of their diet, which is heavy in skinks, which are fast-moving and extremely difficult to locate and grab.
The yellow-faced whipsnake’s curious personality is aided by its unusually large eyes. They move exclusively by day, increasing the visual clarity, with no observations of movement before 7:00 or after 18:00. According to a 2006 study, this species even grow faster than other Australian snakes. They lay their eggs in communal piles, which can number over 600 once various mothers have added their share.
| 10 | Striped skaapsteker |
Maximum length: 93cm.
One of the fastest snakes in southern Africa relative to size. The striped skaapsteker (Psammophylax tritaeniatus) is found in open savannahs of Zimbabwe, Botswana, and South Africa, as well as woodlands and villages.
Rather than a lazy ambusher, this species is a curious, inquisitive snake which seeks out its own prey. You can find the striped skaapseteker in many scenarios, including poking its head into a dark mammal burrow, or slithering through a hollow log core on the random chance that something is inside.
This species has a huge savannah playground to explore, something that tourists pay 100s of dollars to visit, which the snake gets for free. Striped skaapstekers have consistent patterns, as the stripes are nearly always present. These allow them to be distinguished from their close relative the rhombic skaapsteker, which is spotted instead.
Striped skaapstekers are exceptionally fast, and prey on a mixture of tiny mammals and lizards. Everything about their defensive tactics can be witnessed in this video. A human hand descends and touches a motionless striped skaapsteker. The snake suddenly activates with twitchy, darting movements, and within seconds, it latches its tiny mouth onto the hand and begins chewing.
This snake is willing to attack, although the results are relatively minor – the best the striped skaapsteker has been recorded to accomplish is minor swelling.