Snake Island

Ilha da Queimada Grande, also known as Snake Island, is an island located off the coast of Brazil. The island is small in size, and has many different types of terrain, ranging from bare rock to rainforest. The island has a temperate climate. The island is the only home of the critically endangered, venomous Bothrops insularis (golden lancehead pit viper), which has a diet of birds. Snake Island is closed to the public in order to protect this snake population. Because there are so many snakes on one island, by some estimates one snake to every square meter of the island.

Located 18 nautical miles (33 km) off the coast of the state of São Paulo, Brazil, the island is approximately 430,000 square metres (110 acres) in area. The golden lancehead (Bothrops insularis) is the species of snake which gives the island its unofficial name. The snakes became trapped on the island when rising sea levels covered up the land that connected it to the mainland. This left the snake to adapt to their environment.

Photo Source: Collected from Internet