10 scary animals that are totally harmless
| Photo 9 of 12 | 
|
Milk snakes
These innocent serpents are famous for their biomimicry; they closely resemble the highly venomous coral snake. The costume is all an act to scare away potential predators.
In reality, milk snakes are completely harmless and can often tolerate being handled without showing much aggression. (Just make sure the snake you're handling is, in fact, a milk snake and not a coral snake!) It's best to remember this handy mnemonic, which clarifies the subtle differences in color patterns between the two species: "Red next to black is a friend of Jack; red next to yellow will kill a fellow."
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Comments
one touches me ill blow its head off
Please note that this mnemonic ONLY applies to North American coral snakes. Coral snakes in the Caribbean, South America, and elsewhere can be "red on black" and deadly poisonous.
Fortunately, coral snakes as a whole tend to be very shy and non-confrontational, and their small jaws also contribute to human bites being extremely rare.
A good fact to know is that you can tell if a snake is poison by looking at there head and if it is a triangle, like a perfect one but with little rounded corners, it is poison.
Oh, and also, the snakes mouth is actually more pointy then a non venomous snake.
Non venomous snakes have sort of rounded noses.
Thanks for the mnemonic!
A former co-worker told me of a friend of his that made a pet of a wild king snake he found in Florida. He had it for over two years and handled it a lot before someone informed him it was a coral snake, not a king snake. LOL
Red on black; you're OK Jack,
Red on yellow; kills a fellow.
Much easier to remember, IMHO:
red and yellow - kill a fellow
red and black - venom lack
Just stay away from them shoot like people r going to remember them
Add your comment
Sign in with one of these accounts or just add your comment below.
create an account