Snake

Snakes (order Serpentes) are limbless reptiles, with around 3,900 species alive today. They occur on every continent except for Antarctica and are also absent from some oceanic islands. They are technically a kind of lizard, that likely evolved from a burrowing or swimming ancestor during the Jurassic period. Snakes can be identified by their overlapping scales, asymmetric internal organs, lack of eyelids and many have hinged jaws to help them feed. They are also the reptiles in which venom is most widespread.

## Appearances in Dorling Kindersley Vision media

### See How They Grow

The Wild Animals episode has one of its four segments about the life-cycle of a corn snake. It also features a red-tailed boa. The Jungle Animals episode contains an Amazon tree boa, which appears in the scorpion segment, while Desert Animals contains both a sand boa and a California kingsnake.

### Amazing Animals

A total of twenty-eight episodes of Amazing Animals have at least one species of snake appear, either as studio or stock footage. The season with most episodes in which at least one snake species appears is Season One, with eleven episodes. By contrast, only three episodes in Season Two have a snake appear. Seasons Three and Four each have seven episodes in which a snake species appears.

* **SEASON ONE**: Tropical Birds, Animal Disguises, Animal Appetites, Animal Survivors, Animal Senses, Animal Weapons, Animal Builders, Armoured Animals, Animal Babies, Poisonous Animals, Animal Journeys
* **SEASON TWO**: Desert Animals, Scary Animals, Animal Records
* **SEASON THREE**: Animal Hunters, Animal Talk, Slimy Animals, Rainforest Animals, Animal Acrobats, Creepy Crawly Animals, Animal Eggs
* **SEASON FOUR**: Around the World, Underground Animals, Woodland Animals, Backyard Animals, Tiny Animals, Animal Partners, Scaly Animals

Notable snake species that occur only in Amazing Animals include the mangrove cat snake, black-necked spitting cobra, inland taipan, European common adder and the Brahminy blind snake, the most widespread terrestrial snake species.

The green tree python won the silver award in the Golden Gecko Awards in Animal Senses, and the thread snake won the bronze award in Tiny Animals.

As well as the real snakes, Amazing Animals also has a cartoon snake - Rattlesnake. It appears in cartoon segments in all four seasons, and also appears in the opening sequence of every episode.

### Eyewitness

A total of nineteen episodes of Eyewitness have at least one species of snake appear. The season to have the most snake-containing episodes is Season Three, with a total of nine episodes. Season One has six episodes with snakes, while Season Two has four episodes.

* **SEASON ONE**: Jungle, Bird, Amphibian, Reptile, Dinosaur, Skeleton
* **SEASON TWO**: Desert, Tree, Ape, Pond and River
* **SEASON THREE**: Flight, Bear, Sight, Island, Survival, Monster, Plant, Life, Natural Disasters

However, many of these episodes only contain one or two species of snake. A total of twenty-one species of snake appear in *Reptile*, making it the episode with the greatest diversity of snake species. *Monster* is another episode with a high snake diversity, containing fifteen different species.

Notable snake species that occur only in Eyewitness include the Cuban boa, barred grass snake, golden tree snake, Eastern coral snake, puff adder and Eastern diamondback rattlesnake.

### Creatures Fantastic

Of the episodes of Creatures Fantastic so far discovered, three have snakes appear. Dragons contains four species of snake. The sea snake, Indian rock python and cottonmouth all appear as stock footage, while a corn snake is shown crawling on a human skull in the St George and the dragon sequence.

The Apocalypse has a brief segment in which a Burmese python, a royal python and an unidentified black snake are shown crawling on or dangling from tombstones.

The Underworld includes a small segment of several corn snakes sitting on a pile of apples, while the narration discusses the history of the devil in the Bible. The Hydra, a multi-headed serpent, also appears in this episode.

A fourth episode, Man Beasts, has not resurfaced in full. However, the trailer for the entire series includes a clip from the episode showing corn snakes on a rotating sphere at the edge of the Greek world. The episode also includes Medusa, who seemingly has real snakes animated into her hair.

### Baby Animals

In the episode From The Wild, a mother and young red-tailed boa appear briefly.

## Total species

At least 62 species of snake have appeared across all the Dorling Kindersley Vision series:

* Red-tailed boa, *Boa constrictor*
* Amazon tree boa, *Corallus hortulana*
* Cuban boa, *Chilabothrus angulifer*
* Green anaconda, *Eunectes murinus*
* Yellow anaconda, *Eunectes notaeus*
* Barred grass snake, *Natrix helvetica*
* Tiger keelback, *Rhabdophis tigrinus*
* Red-sided garter snake, *Thamnophis sirtalis*
* Ribbon snake, *Thamnophis saurita*
* Ringneck snake, *Diadophis punctatus*
* Eastern hognose snake, *Heterodon platirhinos*
* Western hognose snake, *Heterodon nasicus*
* False water cobra, *Hydrodynastes gigas*
* Blunt-headed tree snake, *Imantodes cenchoa*
* Asian vine snake, *Ahaetulla prasina*
* Golden tree snake, *Chrysopelea ornata*
* Mangrove cat snake, *Boiga dendrophila*
* Brown tree snake, *Boiga irregularis*
* Black racer snake, *Coluber constrictor*
* Common egg-eating snake, *Dasypeltis scabra*
* Indigo snake, *Drymarchon couperi*
* Beauty rat snake, *Orthriophis taeniurus*
* California kingsnake, *Lampropeltis californiae*
* Milk snake, *Lampropeltis triangulum*
* Green vine snake, *Oxybelis fulgidus*
* Corn snake, *Pantherophis guttatus*
* Gopher snake, *Pituophis catenifer*
* Diadem snake, *Spalerosophis diadema*
* European cat snake, *Telescopus fallax*
* Lowland copperhead, *Austrelaps superbus*
* Yellow-bellied sea snake, *Hydrophis platurus*
* Eastern coral snake, *Micrurus fulvius*
* Aquatic coral snake, *Micrurus surinamensis*
* Central American coral snake, *Micrurus nigrocinctus*
* Snouted cobra, *Naja annulifera*
* Mozambique spitting cobra, *Naja mossambica*
* Indian cobra, *Naja naja*
* Black-necked spitting cobra, *Naja nigricollis*
* Inland taipan, *Oxyuranus microlepidotus*
* Stimson's python, *Antaresia stimsoni*
* Spotted python, *Antaresia maculosa*
* Reticulated python, *Malayopython reticulatus*
* Carpet python, *Morelia spilota*
* Green tree python, *Morelia viridis*
* Indian rock, python, *Python molurus*
* Burmese python, *Python bivittatus*
* Southern African rock python, *Python natalensis*
* Central African rock python, *Python sebae*
* Royal python, *Python regius*
* Cantil, *Agkistrodon bilineatus*
* Copperhead viper, *Agkistrodon contortrix*
* Cottonmouth, *Agkistrodon piscivorus*
* Eastern diamondback rattlesnake, *Crotalus adamanteus*
* Western diamondback rattlesnake, *Crotalus atrox*
* Sidewinder rattlesnake, *Crotalus cerastes*
* Timber rattlesnake, *Crotalus horridus*
* Speckled rattlesnake, *Crotalus mitchellii*
* Wagler's pit viper, *Tropidolaemus wagleri*
* Puff adder, *Bitis arietans*
* West African gaboon viper, *Bitis rhinoceros*
* Peringuey's adder, *Bitis peringueyi*
* Namaqua dwarf adder, *Bitis schneideri*
* European common adder, *Vipera berus*
* Brahminy blind snake, *Indotyphlops braminus*