• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Zippy Facts Logo

Zippy Facts

Interesting Random Facts

  • Animals
  • Culture
  • Firsts
  • Food
  • Geography
  • Health
  • History
  • Inventions
  • Language
  • Mythology
  • Odds
  • People
  • Religion
  • Science
  • Space
  • Universe
  • World
You are here: Home / Animals / Are Most Snakes Poisonous?

Are Most Snakes Poisonous?

April 20, 2020 by Karen Hill

Actually, very few snakes have poison, or venom, with which to kill prey or attackers.

garter snake in the wild

Of the 3,000 different kinds of land snakes known to scientists, only about 250 of these have venom.

This means that only about one snake in 12 is Poisonous. Of the snakes that are poisonous, many are either very rare, or hardly ever bite. And the venom of those that do bite is not strong enough to kill a person.

There are only four poisonous snakes in the United States: the rattlesnake, coral snake, copperhead, and cottonmouth.

Each year, many people are bitten these snakes, but because their venom is often not strong enough to kill a healthy person, only about 100 Americans die each year from snakebites.

The most poisonous snake in the world is a kind of Australian tiger snake, a five-foot-long reptile whose venom glands hold enough poison to kill 300 sheep.

Related Facts

  • How Poisonous Is Snake Venom, What Is Snake Venom Made Of, and Can You Build a Tolerance to Arsenic?
  • What Do Snakes Eat and Do Snakes Have Any Predators?
  • How many of Australia’s 140 Species of Native Snakes are Poisonous and Do They Include Sea Snakes?
  • How Did St. Patrick Banish Snakes From Ireland According To the Legend When Snakes Don’t Live In Ireland?
  • How do Snake Charmers charm snakes and Where did the tradition come from?
  • Do All Poisonous Snakes Kill by Biting?

Filed Under: Animals

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « What Bird Sews Its Nest Together with Threads?
Next Post: Do All Poisonous Snakes Kill by Biting? »

Footer

Follow

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Medium
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Categories

Accomplishments Animals Culture Firsts Food Geography Health History Inventions Language Mythology Odds People Religion Science Space Universe World Your Body

About

Zippy Facts empowers the world by serving educational content that is accessible to everyone.

A tribute to growing up, zippyfacts.com showcases interesting and unusual facts about the world.

Our mission is to use technology to facilitate knowledge transfer and sharing.

Copyright © 2020 Zippy Facts

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy