Reptiles & Amphibians

1. Reptiles & Amphibians 9. Poisonous Snakes

2. There are about 300 kinds of poisonous snakes in the world Vocabulary: poisonous A snake with a poison called venom in its bite that is dangerous to people

3. A person can get sick or die from the bite of poisonous snakes

4. Scientists group poisonous snakes by the way that they bite One group of snakes has long fangs

5. Vocabulary: fangs The teeth that a snake uses to bite

6. Rattlesnakes and cottonmouths are in this group When the snake bites, a poison called venom goes through the fangs

7. Vocabulary: venom A poison that goes through the fangs of a snake

8. In the United States, rattlesnakes bite more people than any other kind of snake Before it bites, a rattlesnake may shake its tail to warn its enemies to stay away

9. The noise its tail makes sounds like a rattle Click for Video Sweetwater, Texas has a Rattlesnake Roundup each spring

10. Cottonmouths are usually found in the southeastern United States When a cottonmouth is angry, it shows the white inside of its mouth, which looks like cotton

11. Cottonmouth snakes are also called water moccasins Click for Video But they do not always stay in the water Video from MDC

12. The other group of poisonous snakes have shorter fangs than a rattlesnake Boomslang from Africa These snakes do not just bite

13. They hang on and chew Coral snakes belong to this group

14. Coral snakes are brightly colored snakes that can be found from the southern United States to South America They can grow to about 4 feet long

15. The cobra belongs to the same group as the coral snake The king cobra, which lives in parts of Asia, is the largest poisonous snake in the world and can grow up to 18 feet long