Trivia question for Jun-16-2011

Olivia picked this snake out because of its funny name.  Let’s see how you do with this one.  These are among some of the fastest snakes on the planet.  Their strikes are so fast that you usually don’t even see it happening.  The young are born with venom and are already equipped with well-developed fangs.

It is one of the largest and deadliest of the poisonous snakes. It is a common central American snake and is also found in the south America and West Indies. These snakes strike swiftly and they are an aggressive snake. During the day the snake lies coiled, blending with its surroundings, but it is especially dangerous after sunset, when it wanders in search of prey.

They feed on lizards, frogs, birds and small mammals. There may be more than 70 young in one brood. The baby snakes have fully formed fangs and can give poisonous bite.

So here are Olivia’s questions:  Tell us what kind if snake this is?  Also, everyone knows snakes do not have bladders so tell us how they get rid of liquids from their bodies?  And finally, in the 1870’s, these snakes were killing so many sugarcane workers that the authorities had to intervene.  Tell us what they did to help fix their problem?

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

Congratulations to Ruthi Pascale for being the first to answer our trivia questions correctly. The cool snake we featured is the Fer-De-Lance.  Fer-de-lance, is an extremely venomous snake of the viper family, found throughout tropical America in diverse habitats from cultivated lands to tropical forests. The fer-de-lance, known in Spanish as barba amarilla (“yellow chin”), is a pit viper distinguished by a small sensory pit between each eye and nostril. It has a broad, triangular head and is usually about 4 to 7 feet long. It is gray or brown, marked by a series of black-edged diamonds often bordered in a lighter color. Its bite can be fatal to humans.

Since snakes do not have bladders, they excrete nitrogenous waste in the form of urate crystals in a paste form along with solid waste.  In the 1870’s, these snakes were killing so many sugarcane workers that the authorities had to intervene.  They did so by bringing in mongoose from India to kill the snakes.  But the mongoose multiplied so quickly that it exterminated several species of animals and became a pest itself.  Here is more on these killer snakes: Fer-de-lance

Thanks for playing along 😉