Night lizards live in the United States, Cuba, and Mexico, as well as in Central America as far south as Panama. Although some people believe they are venomous, night lizards are not. They are harmless to humans. …
Wall and rock lizards live in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the East Indies. Wall and rock lizards are very common in dry areas, such as deserts, but some species make their homes in forests or in very cold areas, such as grasslands high up in the mountains or in far northern lands inside the Arctic Circle. They are also found on some Atlantic Ocean islands, including the Canaries off northern Af…
Microteiids live in southern Mexico, in Central America, on the Caribbean islands, and throughout much of South America, where they reach as far south as north-central Argentina. The microteiids live in tropical forests, often by water. They usually stay out of sight under piles of leaves, beneath logs, or in other hiding places and will often dive into the water to escape predators (PREH-duh…
Species of this family live only in the Western Hemisphere, from the United States south through Mexico and Central America to South America. Some species also make their homes on many islands of the Caribbean. Some people hunt these lizards for their meat, fat, and/or skin, and others capture them for the pet trade. …
These lizards live in southern Africa and in Madagascar. The flat and girdle-tailed lizards, along with many plated lizards, typically make their homes in rocky, dry areas, although some girdle-tailed lizards live in forests where they hide under tree bark or in tunnels. Grass lizards live in grasslands, and plated lizards prefer more shrubby habitats. One species of plated lizard even surviv…
They live on land almost around the world, except for many islands in the ocean and very cold places, such as Antarctica and high up in mountains. Most species enjoy insects. Some are rather picky eaters and prefer to eat one kind of insect. Some of the underground-living, legless skinks, for example, eat mostly termites. A few species of skinks, including bobtails and sandfish, mix some flow…
These lizards live in North, Central, and South America, Europe, and Asia. They also make their homes on many islands of the West Indies. One species, the Moroccan glass lizard, lives in northern Africa. Most of these lizards live on land and on the ground's surface, but they often remain in leaf piles, under stones, or in some other hiding spot. A few make their homes underground, and…
Knob-scaled lizards live in typically small populations widely scattered from the Tamaulipas in northeastern Mexico on the Gulf of Mexico south to the middle of Guatemala in Central America. Although scientists still know little about these species or their overall population sizes, they are not considered endangered or threatened. …
They live in North and Central America from the southwestern United States to northwestern Mexico, in Guatemala, and also in the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico. Gila monsters and beaded lizards stay in deserts usually, although some make their homes in dry grassland, in shrubby forests on hillsides, or in nearby areas that have boulders or burrows where they can hide. The World Conservat…
Australia is home to about one-half of the known species. Members of this family also live in Africa; central to southern mainland Asia; Southeast Asia, especially the Malaysian and Indonesian islands; and Papua, New Guinea. These lizards live in many different habitats from dry deserts and grasslands, to lush forests and swamps. Some rarely if ever leave the land, and others rarely leave the…
At least two species eat ant eggs, as well as ant larvae (LAR-vee) and pupae (PEW-pee), which are the life stages between the egg and the adult ant. Scientists suspect that other early blind snakes also eat ants and possibly other insects, but they have not studied them in enough detail to say for sure. Early blind snakes and people rarely encounter one another. These species are not listed a…
Slender blind snakes live in South, Central, and North America, as well as Africa and southwest Asia. North American species live in Mexico and the southwestern United States. Certain species also live on the island of Socotra in the northwestern Indian Ocean, in the West Indies, and on islands off the coast of Africa, Mexico, and Central America. These snakes and humans rarely encounter one …
BLACKISH BLIND SNAKE (Ramphotyphlops nigrescens): SPECIES ACCOUNT Many African and Asian cultures mention blind snakes in their legends and folklore. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) lists the Mona Island blind snake as Endangered, which means it faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild. It also lists the Christmas Island blind snake as Vulnerable, which means it faces a high risk …
False blind snakes are found in Borneo, the Malaysian Peninsula, and Sumatra. False blind snakes probably live in loose soil or under leaves, but this is uncertain. Only a few individuals have been found, and these have been spread out in such a way that some scientists now think that the two species are really just different populations of one species, while others believe that the snakes sh…
Shieldtail snakes live in southern India and in Sri Lanka or Ceylon, which is located off India's southern coast. These snakes and people rarely encounter each other. These species are not listed as endangered or threatened, but scientists know little about the size of the snakes' populations. …
RED-TAILED PIPE SNAKE (Cylindrophis ruffus): SPECIES ACCOUNT Pipe snakes live in Indonesia, including Borneo, Sumatra, and Aru Island west of New Guinea; Sri Lanka or Ceylon off the coast of southern India; and southern China. They also exist in much of Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam. Pipe snakes tend to live in low-lying forests near a water source a…
This snake spends much of its time in burrows in loose soil. It lives in rainforests, especially in low-lying areas near streams or other waterways. The false coral snake is a nonpoisonous snake and usually stays underground during the daytime. (Illustration by Jonathan Higgins. Reproduced by permission.) False coral snakes eat long and narrow vertebrates (VER-teh-brehts), which are an…
Sunbeam snakes live in southern China and Southeast Asia from the Nicobar and Andaman islands west of Thailand to the Philippines and south through much of Indonesia. Sunbeam snakes spend at least part of their time underground, hidden in leaves or under trash. They live in humid forests, as well as rice paddies, farm fields, parks, and gardens next to the woods. People rarely see them deep i…
This snake lives from southwestern Mexico through much of Central America, including Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northwestern Costa Rica. Neotropical sunbeam snakes live in warm climates and a variety of forested areas, but not in the mountains. They also sometimes make their home along the beaches of the coastline. They are secretive animals that hide among rocks and lea…
Boas live in many places around the world, including South America, Central America, North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. They are also present in New Guinea and on many islands throughout their range. From fields to forests and marshes to deserts, boas live in many different habitats. Some of the sand boas make their homes in deserts, while others, like the viper boas, live in wet forest…
Pythons are found in southern Asia; southeastern China and Southeast Asia; the Philippines; Papua, New Guinea, and Indonesia; and Australia. They also live in the central and southern region of Africa, which is known as Sub-Saharan Africa. Depending on the species, pythons may live in thick forests, open forests, rainforests, rocky and scrubby areas high on hillsides, deserts, grasslands, swa…
SOUTHERN BROMELIAD WOODSNAKE (Ungaliophis panamensis): SPECIES ACCOUNT They are found from Brazil to Mexico and in the West Indies. Some species are found in both Malaysia and Borneo. Different members of this family may prefer dry and open, shrubby forests; rainforests; the rocky sides of hills, as well as cliffs; farm fields; and even caves. Usually, they try to find a spot within the habit…
The file snakes live from India to Southeast Asia and Australia. They inhabit northern Australia, the Solomon Islands east of New Guinea, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Some people collect file snakes as food and for their skin, which is used for leather. Since the snake reproduces only once every two years, or even less often, such collecting over the years could lead to dangerous drops in the num…
Vipers and pitvipers are found in North, Central, and South America and in Africa, Europe, and Asia. …
Most African burrowing snakes live in the central and southern regions of Africa, known as sub-Saharan Africa, but a few make their homes in Israel or in Jordan. Just as their name suggests, this group of snakes likes to live in burrows, or tunnels, underground. They are especially fond of sandy soils. Some like the damp soil of lowland forests, but others can live quite well in the drier san…
Colubrid snakes occur almost everywhere in the world. The only places they do not live are Antarctica; the far northern reaches of Europe, Asia, and North America; and central and western Australia. …
The elapids live in Africa, Asia, Australia, the United States and Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Pacific and Indian Oceans. More than half of the venomous snake species in the world belong to this family, which includes cobras, mambas, coral snakes, land-living kraits, brown snakes, taipans (TY-pans), death adders, sea kraits, and sea snakes. Some of them are quite deadly to…
