Seeing Double
Two bright green Rowley’s palm pit vipers (Bothriechis rowleyi) intertwine at the Saint Louis Zoo.
Celebrate World Snake Day With These Stunning Snaps of Serpents
On July 16, take some time to celebrate these slithery creatures.
Saturday is World Snake Day, and National Geographic is celebrating by showing off some of Joel Sartore’s artful portraits of these slithery creatures.
Today, serpent enthusiasts throughout the world are sharing their appreciation for snakes. Roughly 3,000 species of these creatures inhabit the globe, from the icy climate of northern Canada to steamy rain forests and a majority of the world’s oceans. Ranging in size from a few inches to more than 30 feet (nine meters) long, about 375 snake species are venomous, but only a small portion are dangerous to human beings.
The following pictures are part of the National Geographic Photo Ark, in which Sartore sets out to capture every captive species on camera, with the goal of spreading awareness about animal conservation.
Follow Elaina Zachos on Twitter.
Corrections: July 18, 2016, 11 a.m.: Due to updates in animal taxonomy, the following captions have been edited to fit the animals' current scientific names:
Photo 1: Trimeresurus albolabris has been updated to Trimeresurus insularis.
Photo 3: The scientific name has been updated to Drymarchon melanurus erebennus.
Photo 6: The full species name is Azemiops feae.
Photo 12: The updated scientific name is Malayopython timoriensis.
Photo 19: The species has been split, and the animal depicted is now Lampropeltis californiae.
