| 1 | Beaked burrowing asp |
Maximum length: 55cm.
A shiny black African snake which is seen less in towns and public parks than cobras, mainly because they’re keen burrowers. The beaked burrowing asp (Atractaspis duerdeni) is found in northern South Africa and southern Botswana. They’re dangerously venomous, but because they lead a burrowing lifestyle, bites are rare, and little is known about their effects.
Beaked burrowing asps lurk in grasslands and moist savannahs, where they dig into soft soils and vanish completely from sight, only emerging after heavy rains. They accomplish this using a special head, which narrows after the neck instead of enlarging. Combined with a shovel-shaped snout, this makes Atractaspis duerdeni like a living breathing spade, which shifts soil aside as effortlessly as a construction worker’s digger.
Beaked burrowing asps snakes are part of the dangerous Atractaspis genus, which has 22 members. Virtually all members possess the same spade-shaped snout. The most feared and common member is Bibron’s stiletto snake, which appears across a swathe of southern Africa.
Another of their names is the side-stabbers, as Atractaspis members are unique among venomous snakes for having a single venomous tooth which points sideways. This allows them to slash at enemies and inject venom with their mouth completely closed, and inspires shudders of fear among locals Africans.
| 2 | John’s sand boa |
Maximum length: 110cm.
The Eryx sand boas of Eurasia are all expert diggers, and John’s sand boa (Eryx johnii) is no exception. This version lives in India, where various superstitious beliefs surround it such as curing AIDs and blessing those who meet it with good luck. This is a weird enough snake already, with round eyes that look permanently startled, and a stubby cylindrical body. Their stumpy, angled snout is the final piece of weirdness, and this goes to the very real purpose of digging in loose soils.
John’s sand boa digs for hunting purposes as well as shelter, leaping out at passing mammals in ambush, which they then constrict like a typical boa. They cover the vast majority of India, as well as eastern Pakistan. Their main habitats are rocky foothills and semi-desert scrub plains, but they always require areas with soft soils.
If this species woke up with a normal snout one morning, it wouldn’t be able to survive. John’s sand boas have the usual spade-shaped snout, but even better, their snout angles downwards slightly. This snake doesn’t just dig, it needs to dig down instantly, hiding its body the moment it senses a rodent coming. Another of their names is the red sand boa.
| 3 | Western shovelnose snake |
Maximum length: 36.9cm.
This harmless species lives in the desert expanses of southern Nevada, Arizona and northern Mexico. The western shovelnose (Sonora occipitalis) is named after its long and probing snout, which it uses to dig into soft desert sands and escape the blazing sun.
Western shovelnose snakes are no threat to humans, and are usually found between desert shrubs, half covered in sand. They typically measure 25-35cm, and mainly feed on scorpions and insects. This snake has large round eyes, which gives them a docile appearance, rather than cunning and menacing like a rattlesnake. Appearances can deceive with snakes, but in this case, the western shovelnose really is harmless.
Having a shovel snout is a matter of life and death for this species, not style. It’s one of many adaptive features that the western shovelnose uses to survive in scorching deserts, where a copperhead would probably shrivel up and go crispy within hours. This species simply must burrow below for shelter, or its journey is at an end. Their strategy is to thrust their thin snout into the sand to create an initial hole, then thread through and enlarge the opening with their entire body.
Theoretically, the western shovelnose could invade a mammal burrow, but having a slender snout allows them to dive below whenever they want. As you’d expect, this snake sticks to softer desert sands rather than hard packed arid ground.
| 4 | Middle American burrowing snake |
Maximum length: 40cm.
A harmless burrowing species which averages at just 30cm long. The Middle American burrowing snake (Adelphicos quadrivirgatum) lives in Central America and southern Mexico, and is in complete control in its underground soil domains. They move through soil as effortlessly as an olive sea snake moves through water, and it’s all down to their snout, which is narrow and tapering.
Middle American burrowing snakes live in lowland forests rather than high altitudes. They’re most common by streams within forests, where the softer soil is perfect for burrowing. Their diet is also specialised for a digging life, consisting mainly of earthworms.
This species lacks any form of venom or dangerous teeth, but their burrowing skills far outstrip larger snakes. They don’t even have to think, using natural digging instincts honed over millions of years.
Being smaller, Middle American burrowing snakes are low on the food chain, with even spiders such as dark fishing spiders feasting on them. Luckily, they have an instant escape route, digging downwards into soft soils with their specialised snout. This species doesn’t spends its entire life underground, as they’ll sometimes climb a few feet and rest on a large rainforest leaf.
| 5 | Short-tailed snake (Florida) |
Maximum length: 65.5cm.
A Florida snake, but not one you’re likely to find in Publix or the Magic Kingdom car park. The short-tailed snake lives in clumps of dry forests well away from prying human eyes. Here, they live a digging lifestyle, vanishing into soft soils, using a slender snout which shoves aside soil with ease.
Lampropeltis extenuata has no desire to attack humans. Escape is their default, and instead of zooming into thickets, they travel downwards. Specifically, this snake is restricted to turkey oak woods, oak hammocks and sand pine scrub. They’re categorised as “near threatened” by the IUCN, and live mainly in the central counties of Florida, just north of Orlando.
Short-tailed snakes belong to the same Lampropeltis genus as kingsnakes, which are decent burrowers themselves. But Lampropeltis extenuata easily outstrips its kingsnake cousins when it comes to raw digging capabilities. This species became isolated from other kingsnakes during the Miocene epoch, and it used this isolation to gain a thinner head for burrowing.
At no point is a short-tailed snake’s head thicker than its neck. Just a few extra millimetres could impede its digging ability and leave them open to certain doom, removing their one great survival advantage – instantly disappearing underground. Short-tailed snakes are a short species, typically measuring just 36-51cm.
| 6 | Gower’s shieldtail snake |
Maximum length: 34.5cm.
The Rhinophis snake genus lives in India and Sri Lanka, and probably has the most extreme burrowing adaptions of any snake. Their head is so narrow that it points to a spike, while their tail looks like a wooden chair leg which has snapped off, probably to fool predators into thinking that its tail is its head.
Rhinophis shield-tails (which have 24 members) construct an intricate soil tunnel network in the rainy season while the ground is wet. But they don’t occupy those tunnels straight away. They wait for months until the ground hardens, and only then do they set up their underground base. Shield-tails can dig 2 metres below ground, sustain this digging for long periods, and some even have special polygonal scales which protect their eyes.
As for Gower’s shieldtail (Rhinophis goweri), this is a species of the eastern Ghats mountain range of southern India. They’re a recently discovered species, as the first batch was found in 2014, at elevations of around 900 metres, in the Koli hills regions.
So far, we barely know anything about this snake. But the image above reveals plenty – murky brown colours to blend with soil, the usual bizarre tail that looks like it’s just been chopped off, and the usual narrow snout which is supremely adapted for digging.
The Rhinophis snake genus is so bizarre that British scientists in the 1800s didn’t realise they were snakes at first. They were originally assigned to the legless lizard family of Anguis.
| 7 | Narrow-banded burrowing snake |
Maximum length: 39cm.
An Australian snake which digs tunnels during the day and emerges on warm nights to hunt for small reptiles. This is mainly a species of central and western Australia. They’re found in civilised New South Wales, but only the far west, nowhere near Sydney.
Narrow-banded burrowing snakes (Brachyurophis fasciolatus) gravitate towards dry, sandy habitats, particularly spinifex dunes, as well as arid semi-deserts, dry grassland and savannah. This species doesn’t have a scary face; it isn’t snarling and crocodilian like a green tree python. Instead, they have a narrow snout, which is perfect for poking sharply into sand then shovelling the rest aside.
To start digging, Brachyurophis fasciolatus simply aims its head downwards and disappears below the surface of Australia. Finding this snake is difficult, as you first have to find their remote habitats, and then get lucky and have one actually come to the surface.
This species occupies a swathe of Australia’s scorched interior, and likes areas with little human population. Consequently, they’re not endangered at all, just rarely seen. Their favourite prey are comb-eared skinks and sliders, legless skinks which strongly resemble snakes themselves.
| 8 | Mozambique shovel snout |
Maximum length: 31cm.
A harmless snake which poses no threat to humans. The clue is in the name, as this southern African snake has a narrow snout specialised for digging.
Mozambique shovel snouts (Prosymna janii) prefer to stay in the upper layer of soils, rather than burrowing deep into the Earth’s fiery mantle. But this is more than sufficient to hide them away. This species measures just 25-30cm, and preys mainly on reptile eggs. They’re based in southern Mozambique and eastern South Africa, but they’re hard to find even on the most dedicated reptile hunt.
Mozambique shovel snouts are found in coastal forests, moist savannah, and rural roads through those areas. If cornered, then they don’t require a log or dark burrow to hide in, as they can instantly dive down into soft soils.
Though less flashy, this is just as useful as a neurotoxic venom which destroys birds’ brains. Cobras are undoubtedly powerful, but they’re so cocky that every hawk and eagle in South Africa knows where they are. The Mozambique shovel snout is more subtle, and can disappear into soil at will, leaving its predators confused, questioning their own sanity.
| 9 | Colombian earth snake |
Maximum length: 37.4cm (but poorly researched).
A harmless snake of the western Andes in Colombia, which lives a secretive life. The Colombian earth snake (Geophis nigroalbus) was first discovered in 1909, but over the next 100 years, less than 50 more were found. The reason is its love for burrowing, which is made possible by its tapering head and shovel-shaped snout.
Originally, Geophis nigroalbus was probably a normal snake, but found itself outcompeted by acrobatic showoffs like the tiger ratsnake. Geophis nigroalbus couldn’t survive by being a fast, aggressive snake, so it morphed into a shy burrower instead, choosing the world below which more energetic snakes didn’t care about.
Geophis nigroalbus doesn’t look scary at all. It has round inquisitive eyes, and looks mild mannered. A boa constrictor would surely have no fear at all, and laugh as it moves in for the kill. But the joke’s on the boa, as the Colombian earth snake’s head is built purely for function, and gives it a vast burrowing advantage, which allows it to escape enemies whenever it feels like it.
This species is close related to Hoffman’s earth snake in Costa Rica, but this species is smooth, while the Colombian earth snake has sharply keeled scales (except on the neck). Other than these burrowing tendencies, Geophis nigroalbus remains a highly mysterious species. An iridescent rainbow sheen is something else that shows up in images.
| 10 | Western hognose snake |
Maximum length: 100.6cm.
This easily recognisable species lives in the Great Plains of the US, as well as southern Canada and northern Mexico. Just one look at a western hognose snake, and you know that they’re excellent diggers. They love sweeping grassy plains, but especially sandy blowouts and dunes within those plains. Western hognose snakes roam these sandy zones all day, digging tunnels whenever the need for shelter strikes, in their mysterious reptilian brains which we barely understand.
According to one study, western hognose snakes spend 71% of their time underground. They also perform much of their hunting underground, as 50% of their diet consists of eggs, whose hollows they must raid.
The western hognose snake has a relatively upturned hog-nose, whereas in the eastern species (Florida to Ontario), the nose is more horizontally facing. Other weird anatomical features include ultra-enlarged back teeth. These were once theorised to be for popping the inflated bodies of amphibians, but they’re actually for gripping them.
Western hognose snakes are mostly harmless. They secrete a mild venom, which may cause fingers or even a hand to swell, but has never been known to kill anyone.