| 1 | Common lancehead |
Maximum length: 172.3cm.
One of South America’s most feared snakes, with an average length of 75-125cm. Common lanceheads (Bothrops atrox) are dangerously venomous, and largely prey on rodents and opossums. They live in dense forests and forest edges, sometimes near traditional villages and coffee plantations. There’s no avoiding water bodies in a rainforest, and the common lancehead navigates them with ease, in their neverending quest for food and mates.
Wide rivers, manmade reservoirs, anaconda-infested marshes – it doesn’t matter, this snake can cross them all. They swim neither straight ahead, nor in swinging S-shaped coils, but somewhere inbetween. Ordinarily, the common lancehead is a slow ambush predator, but when swimming, they’re nimble and fast.
Common lanceheads swim for longer and more flexibly than a human being. A human has to use complex arm movements, taught over many hours by specialist instructors amid a constant scent of chlorine. Common lanceheads simply use a modified version of their natural slithering, and have the instincts to do this from birth.
This species belongs to the vast Bothrops genus (40 members), which also includes the dreaded fer-de-lance of Costa Rica, and rare Osborne’s lancehead of Ecuador.
| 2 | King cobra |
Maximum length: 5.85 metres.
The king cobra is a snake of many skills. They’re able to swallow venomous pitvipers without dying, stash themselves in hollow trees, and are the only snake on Earth which constructs a nest. Swimming is another of their skills, as according to various videos, the king cobra splits water as effortlessly as Moses.
Most cobras are strong swimmers, and the king cobra has frightened river dwellers near villages many times. This is 3-4 metre species of India and southeast Asia, which isn’t technically a “true” cobra, yet still possesses the iconic neck flare.
King cobras are less flexible in their habitats then regular cobras, sticking to pristine forests away from towns and cities. However, they’re perfectly comfortable in lakes or while crossing rivers. 95% of their diet consists of fellow snakes, and if a local lake is teeming with mud snakes or rice paddy snakes, this is too good an opportunity to resist.
If you’re swimming in a lake in Thailand and you see a king cobra 12 metres away, then be warned: there’s no safety buffer just because you’re in water. That said, the king cobra isn’t an overly aggressive species, and they normally flee if possible.
| 3 | Eastern coral snake |
Maximum length: 129.5cm.
The eastern coral snake is one of the USA’s deadliest species, with a lethal neurotoxic venom, albeit in relatively small quantities. They’re mainly found in forests of Florida and Georgia, including oak hammocks, slashpine and tropical broadleaf forests.
Unlike a cottonmouth or even a pygmy rattlesnake, this is one of the least likely Floridian snakes to find in a lake or swimming pool. Yet eastern coral snakes still possess a strong ability to swim, as shown by the video above, which begins with a snake resting calmly on a lilypad.
At first, the eastern coral snake looks calm, as though surveying its surroundings. It may secretly be worried inside, fearing that it’s trapped in the middle of a lake, though there’s no definitive proof of this. As the cameraman strays closer, the eastern coral snake suddenly blasts into the water, swimming its way to the opposite shore, using repeated thrashing movements of its body from side to side.
Eastern coral snakes are barely aquatic, and you can tell from the video, as its movements aren’t graceful at all. It seems to be putting serious effort in, but the snake undeniably got the job done in the end. In fact, despite weighing just a few grams, the eastern coral snake easily looks faster than the average human swimmer.
The video above is quite a rare occurrence – don’t expect to see it first hand, although you never know.
| 4 | Puff adder |
Maximum length: 191cm.
This dangerously venomous species floats through water effortlessly, drifting with the tides, and occasionally changing direction with a calm S-shaped coil. Puff adders are widespread in sub-Saharan Africa, inhabiting roughly 2 dozen countries. They’re most commonly found along woodland edges with an abundance of dry bushes to lurk in. They’re common in semi-open areas, usually in drier areas, yet they’re still more than capable of entering a watery world.
Puff adders are regularly spotted in ponds, reservoirs and rivers, which they navigate with ease, despite a bulky body. As the video above shows, they can be in the centre of a lake miles wide, and show no panic whatsoever. One vast water body they’ve been spotted in is Gariep Dam in South Africa, and they’re commonly encountered on beaches as well.
The only disadvantage to entering these lakes might be that puff adders are more exposed to bird predators, circling above. It’s unknown whether they can dive below into the depths, like a truly aquatic snake, but Indian cobras (which aren’t aquatic) have been spotted holding their breath for 20 minutes before.
| 5 | Adder |
Maximum length: 93.5cm.
If you see a snake swimming rapidly towards you in a British lake, it’s 99% certain to be a grass snake, but there’s still a chance of it being a venomous adder.
Britain has 3 native snake species, of which only 2 are actually common. Grass snakes are semi-aquatic, hanging out in ponds and streams, while adders are much more likely to be found in forested areas. They have no need to enter water, yet if the scent molecules they track draw them to a lake, they’ll still enter and start swimming without question.
Adders are strong swimmers, despite rarely flexing these skills. Their swimming style varies from relaxed, to relentless side to side writhing. Either way, it’s little more than a slightly tweaked version of their regular land slithering, making it almost effortless.
Adders may also enter rivers if they detect prey scents on the opposite side of a shore, forcing them to cross, perhaps even the scent of a female. Just as importantly, adders have a camouflaging colour scheme. They’re beige intermingled with grey or black, which blends excellently with the murky water surface. A hovering bird would struggle to make out the adder on a cloudy day, even if it was swimming at full blast.
| 6 | Red racer |
Maximum length: 178.5cm (at least).
The red racer is an unusually pink subspecies of the coachwhip, which is native to California, Arizona and Nevada. They’re primarily a land snake, and are already famed for their agility, speeding down paths and vanishing into thorny bushes in what feels like milliseconds.
Red racers like semi-arid areas, where they blend expertly into the parched soil. Yet if they come across water, they’ll enter it without hesitation. These rogue water explorers don’t look distressed in the slightest, but as sharp and alert as ever. The red racer moves through water like a nimble speedboat. They possess every required quality: fast speed, high buoyancy, and instantaneous 90 degree turns.
The red racer is a flexible eater, with bats, birds and lizards alike featuring on its menu. Although they’re intimidating due to their fast speeds, attacks on humans are rare unless seriously provoked.
Their swimming strength isn’t just for forward propulsion, but to prevent them from getting washed away. Red racers can withstand strong currents, which would wash other creatures helplessly downstream, tumbling through frothy rapids until they came to a stop miles from their familiar home.
| 7 | Eastern diamondback rattlesnake |
Maximum length: 251.5cm.
Though officially a land snake, there’s a strong chance you’ll see the eastern diamondback rattlesnake swimming towards your fishing boat with great determination. This is a southeastern US (Florida, Georgia) snake, which is increasingly rare and usually lurks in mammal burrows in woodland areas.
While lakes or shores aren’t their natural territory, eastern diamondbacks have been filmed weaving through water with ease. They swim at moderate speeds, not fighting for their life, but slithering in a standard S-shape, as though the water below them is completely solid ground.
Compared to an Olympic sprint swim, with arms smashing down, water splashing everywhere, and athletes gulping for oxygen afterwards, the eastern diamondback is laughably relaxed. This species can easily adjust, as they can slither through rivers slowly while investigating, and speed off quickly when escaping.
Eastern diamondbacks prey on mammals and birds, with their favourites including rice rats and marsh rabbits. The one consolation is that this species weighs an average of just 5-10 pounds. Not exactly a behemoth that could topple your boat with a head on ram. They’re actually the heaviest snake in the entire USA, yet they still weigh nothing. Their length, meanwhile, can exceed 2.5 metres.
| 8 | Eastern brown snake |
Maximum length: 240cm.
Eastern brown snakes are already a scary snake, with a neurotoxic venom, but add water to the mix and they become terrifying. This eastern Australian species is the second most venomous land snake in the world. They can be found on outback trails, in country parks, and fields, yet they’re also comfortable in water, and move effortlessly through it.
In 2011, fear reached a new level when torrential downpours caused Queensland to flood. Cars were washed away, and many townsfolk were evacuated from rooftops via helicopter. Even worse, the local eastern brown snakes used the rising waters as a way to spread. They started popping up everywhere, swimming energetically through flooded streets as cars floated past, threatening to bite people already clinging to survival.
Though relatively thin, eastern brown snakes have all the complex muscle fibres necessary to propel themselves forward. Their diet contains few frogs, mainly mammals such as the house mouse, yet they enter water bodies just for the sake of it.
This species has no problem with biting while in water either. Eastern brown snakes tend to skip the intricate manoeuvres and just swim directly forward, with an alert expression. In a crocodile battle, they’d have a great chance of survival simply because of how nimble they are.
| 9 | Japanese ratsnake |
Maximum length: 230cm.
This species doesn’t eat many frogs, and it doesn’t need water to survive, but they’re often seen blasting through lakes anyway. The Japanese ratsnake is a non-venomous species which appears in the whole of mainland Japan, including Honshu to the south and Hokkaido to the north. They’re primarily a land snake, but are agile enough that the entire Japanese countryside is open to them.
Depending on their mood, the Japanese ratsnake can spend the afternoon in a forest, a grassy field or swimming through a lake. Compared to an eastern brown snake, their swimming style is more spectacular, as they constantly move their body from side to side, in an S-shaped motion.
Japanese ratsnakes can swim incredibly quickly when focussed. Their body thrashes wildly, but they always keep their head raised up like a periscope, scanning ahead alertly. Japanese ratsnakes lose almost none of their skills in water. They can bite, hiss, and scan their surroundings just as effectively as ever.
Japanese ratsnakes prey heavily on mammals and bird eggs. While non-venomous, they can turn aggressive if picked up and manhandled.
| 10 | Caspian whipsnake |
Maximum length: 208cm.
The Caspian whipsnake is an active predator which pursues its prey, stalking them through fields and woodlands. There’s always going to be streams and rivers to cross somewhere, and the Caspian whipsnake manages it much more easily than a human, or perhaps an army of tanks.
This is a Balkan species which is non-venomous, yet attacks humans without hesitation if bothered. Caspian whipsnakes are found in Greece, Bulgaria and Romania, and derive most of their calories from mammals like little ground squirrels (Spermophilus pygmaeus). Snakes they coexist with include the nose-horned viper, a deadly venomous species which mainly sticks to rocky areas.
Compared to turtle-headed sea snakes, Caspian whipsnakes lack proper aquatic adaptions. Their lungs are normal-sized, their eyes aren’t oriented upwards, and they can’t absorb oxygen through their scales. Yet Caspian whipsnakes are so energetic and powerful on land that they’re great swimmers by default.
This study shows their swimming style: moving forward calmly with their head raised up like a periscope, so that splashing waves never block its field of vision.