Kraits Cobras Sea Snakes and Relatives: Elapidae

Physical characteristics: This thin snake has a repeated color pattern of narrow yellow, wide red, and wide black bands. A narrow yellow band separates the black and red bands. Adults normally are 18 to 28 inches (45.7 to 71 centimeters) long, but they have been known to grow to more than 4 feet (1.2 meters).

Geographic range: North American coral snakes live in the United States and Mexico.

Habitat: The North American coral snake lives in many areas, including deserts and forests and even along the shorelines of lakes and ponds.

North American coral snakes often hide under leaves or logs or in some other shelter. (Illustration by Dan Erickson. Reproduced by permission.)

Diet: This snake eats mostly small lizards but sometimes also dines on frogs and other snakes. It tracks the lizards and snakes by following their scents (SENTS), or smells.

Behavior and reproduction: These secretive snakes often hide under leaves or logs or in some other shelter. When a coral snake feels threatened, it sometimes pokes out the end of its tail, which may confuse the attacker into thinking the tail is the head. This can give the coral snake time to get away. Females usually lay fewer than nine eggs at a time, but they can lay as many as thirteen. Little else is known about them.

North American coral snakes and people: The coral snake's venom is strong enough to kill a human, but antivenin (an-tee-VEH-nuhn) is available. Antivenin is a substance that neutralizes a snake's venom, meaning that it causes the venom to have no bad effect.

Conservation status: These snakes are not endangered or threatened. ∎