Picture an animal that huddles up with others when stressed, babysits its young, hangs out around relatives, and gathers in big groups every year. Did you imagine a rattlesnake? For a long time, ...

Dusk starts to settle across the landscape. The dirt trail, lit by the last licks of sunlight, winds through the trees. The sound of your shuffling footfalls fills the quiet. Suddenly, you stop.

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. More than 4,200 species of snakes exist on the planet and ...

The opening pages of the 1943 book The Little Prince recall how the narrator, as a child, once drew a picture not of a hat — as every adult insisted it was — but of a boa constrictor that had ...

A Tennessee hiker died after being bitten by a timber rattlesnake he picked up. Timber rattlesnakes, copperheads, and massasauga rattlesnakes are Ohio's three venomous snake species. While venomous, ...

The best-known seer in Greek myth is Teiresias. As a young man, Teiresias came upon a pair of coupling serpents on Mount Cithaeron, and, in disgust, struck them with his staff. This offended the ...

Seven venomous snakes call Louisiana home, including coral snakes, cottonmouths, rattlesnakes and copperheads. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 7,000 to 8,000 people get bitten by ...

Gray rat snakes, commonly called chicken snakes, are non-venomous and known for their climbing ability due to their unique body shape. They climb trees to hunt birds, eggs and squirrels, and to bask ...

Corrections and clarifications: This story has been updated to refer to 'venomous' snakes, which inject via a bite or sting. If you live in the central or eastern United States, you might see more ...

Six venomous snake species reside in Florida, while larger non-venomous snakes like pythons and anacondas have also been sighted. While shark attacks are not typically fatal, Florida leads the U.S. in ...

The motion of snakes has long fascinated humans: they undulate, they sidewind, they crawl, they even fly. Together with herpetologists, researchers in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering ...

Snakes have adapted to climb trees, leap across hot sand, and even swim through water — all without arms or legs. What’s their secret? Mike Bock This corn snake, shown here at the Smithsonian's ...