Island snakes 5 times more venomous than land relatives

Like all parts of the world, there are "snake islands" where snakes often impress with their incredible numbers and ferocious habits.

However, none is more famous than the "Brazilian Snake Island". The Brazilian Snake Island, originally known as the Great Macadamia Island, is a small island off the Atlantic coast of Brazil, often known as the world's deadliest island.

It has never failed to live up to the name "Snake Island", the island has a total of 430,000 square meters, where locals believe there are at least 1-5 snakes per square meter.

However, biologist Marcelo Quartet, who has been on the island for more than 20 years, believes that there are not as many snakes as one might think and that the minimum is about one snake per square meter, according to the locals.

Even so, the island's snake population is staggering, and many of the venomous snakes are very toxic, including the Golden Spearhead Viper, which often appears on lists of the deadliest snakes, and whose only home is the Brazilian Snake Island, where the population currently ranges from about 2,000 to 4,000.

This snake has a terrestrial relative, the spearhead viper, which is said to be responsible for 90 percent of all poisonous snake bites in Brazil, showing just how aggressive these snakes can be.

What's even scarier is that the Golden Spearhead Viper is five times more toxic than its terrestrial relative, and their venom can dissolve human skin, so if you've accidentally bitten by it, you'll die within an hour.

It is also because of the number of snakes and their venomous nature that the island is forbidden to land, and will only be released for scientific purposes and if it carries at least one doctor.

Well, it may be the only island that is off-limits to humans because of the number of snakes.

Of course, some snakes look scary but are non-venomous, including the white-fronted snail-eating snake, whose name tells you it eats snails.

The origin of the Brazilian snake island: why are there so many snakes and so poisonous?

There is an interesting legend about the origin of the island's poisonous snakes: a group of pirates hid gold on the island, and then put the most poisonous snakes here to guard their wealth.

But in fact, these snakes have evolved here for longer than human civilization.

About 11,000 years ago, the sea level rose enough to separate the Brazilian snake islands from the Brazilian mainland, and the snakes that lived here were thus cut off from the interior and took their evolutionary path.

Isolated in this way, many large animals (including snake predators) have difficulty surviving, as resources become increasingly limited and, most importantly, genetic diversity cannot be maintained.

Snakes certainly face the same problems, but they are much better off than larger animals. Their need for food is not very great, often one meal is enough for a year without hunger, and such islands are enough to ensure their population size.

Eventually, the snakes here become a situation where there are no natural predators and they can reproduce more rapidly.

Faced with the problem of limited resources, snakes have also found a way out, and that is to set their sights on birds. In search of food, many snakes climb the trees and specialize in preying on migratory birds that come to the island to rest during their long seasonal flights.

We know that the predatory strategy of venomous snakes is to inject venom into the prey and then stalk the prey and wait for the venom to work, but this tactic is ineffective against birds that fly off the island without a second thought.

There are only two ways to deal with birds, either they are fast enough to kill in one hit, or they are toxic enough to kill their prey before it flies off the island.

Therefore, it makes sense that the offspring of those vipers become more and more poisonous, eventually exceeding their terrestrial relatives by five times, or they would have been eliminated long ago.

The reason for the formation of snake islands is similar in all places.

Snakes on snake islands are unusually fierce because their prey forces them to move in a faster, more venomous direction.

Because of the lack of predators on isolated islands, and the fact that islands are often resting places for birds, their populations can be very impressive - after all, many snakes eat enough migratory birds once a year.

Forbidden land: formerly protecting people, now protecting snakes!

There is a lighthouse on Snake Island, Brazil, and there is a horrifying legend about this lighthouse.

It is said that in the 1920s, the lighthouse was guarded - by a couple and three children - and one-night several golden spearhead vipers entered their room and attacked the man, while his wife and children were bitten to death by golden spearhead vipers hanging from a tree during their escape.

Since then, the island was forbidden to land to protect the locals, and the lighthouse became fully automated, with only someone going up every once in a while to maintain it.

There is also a story that a hungry fisherman went to the island to pick bananas and was accidentally bitten by a snake, eventually dying on the deck covered in blood.

These two stories are not necessarily true, but they can reflect a side of the local people's fear of the island, and when it became off-limits, few people did land for a long time.

However, this rule is now being broken as the island's unique species, the Golden Spearhead Viper has become a black market favorite.

Some scientists believe that the venom of the Golden Spearhead Viper has many medicinal uses, as well as being coveted by collectors for its rarity and golden appearance.

With such demand, the price of a golden spearhead viper on the black market can range from $10,000 to $30,000, causing many poachers to risk their lives on the island in search of them.

The island's golden spearhead pit viper population is believed to have declined by nearly 50 percent in the past 15 years, and it is now a critically endangered species on the INDUCT Red List of Threatened Species.

The decline in their population may have made the island less dangerous for humans, but the island is still off-limits to humans, only now more consideration is being given to protecting these snakes.

And finally

In the case of Brazil's Snake Island, the local birds are wary of the place, and the snakes on the island are not easy to catch; they live off of tired migratory birds.

It's hard to imagine what direction these snakes would go in without human involvement, they may eventually run down to huge populations, or more ferocious snakes may appear, the ecosystem of an isolated island always gives surprises and surprises.