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Snakes

Description

Venomous snakes use modified saliva, usually delivered through highly specialized teeth, such as hollow fangs, for the purpose of prey immobilization and self-defense. In contrast, nonvenomous species either their prey, or overpower it with their jaws.

Lists or rankings of the world's "most venomous snakes" are tentative and differ greatly due to numerous factors.

Sometimes, toxicity of snakes is used to determine their danger to humans but this is improper. There are far more factors critical to determine the potential hazard of a snake to humans, including the distribution and behaviour of the species.

Over 600 species are known to be venomous—about a quarter of all snake species.


BY: Ivan Martínez and Diego Meana.