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Name : Snake Island
localization : Atlantic Ocean off the sea-coast of São Paulo state , Brazil
The golden lancehead (Bothrops insularis) is one of the most venomous snakes in South America.
Coordinates:-24.484043070527676 , -46.67561478998516
Why it ’s incredible : The island is so dangerous , only the Brazilian naval forces and scientists with extra permit are allowed access code .
Snake Island is a modest , forested island off the sea-coast of Brazil that wrestle with thou of vicious vipers . The snake , which produce up to 3.9 infantry ( 1.2 time ) long , are golden lancehead endocarp vipers ( Bothrops insularis ) . They are so venomous , the Brazilian navy has closed the island to the public since the 1920s .
Snake Island sits 21 miles (34 km) off the coast of southeastern Brazil in the Atlantic Ocean.
The island sits about 21 mile ( 34 kilometers ) off the coast of southeastern Brazil and hide an area of 106 acres ( 43 hectares ) , which is equivalent to about 80 American football game field of operations . rain forest cover more than half of the island , while the eternal rest is barren rock and grassland .
Snake Island was once connect to the mainland , but rising sea levels submerged the body politic span around 10,000 twelvemonth ago , at theend of the last ice-skating rink age . This separation trap a population of golden lanceheads on the island , where the Hydra chop-chop adapted to the conditions and multiplied . Their malice has acquire to pop the species that were trapped with them , as well as migrant bird .
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Snake Island is devoid of mammals , so golden lanceheads have no natural predators ; their venom is mean for hunt quarry , rather than for defense . Researchsuggests their venom is the fastest - playacting of any lancehead ophidian ( Bothrops ) and five times as potent as that of a closely refer mintage ( Bothrops jararaca ) that lives on the mainland , probable because catching birds require a swift kill .
Golden lancehead spite is fast - acting in human race , too . Bitescause symptomsranging from local pain and swelling to sickness , enteral bleeding , kidney nonstarter and weave destruction . Despite these risks , a few masses inhabit Snake Island until the 1920s to operate a lighthouse that was build up in 1909 . While it ’s likely the last people leave when the lighthouse became automated , local rumors suggest thelast keeper and his family diedfrom the bites of snakes that slinked into their home through a window .
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Researchersestimatethat between 2,000 and 4,000 prosperous lanceheads inhabit on Snake Island . The species has not been ground anywhere else in the world and is heel as critically endangered on theIUCN Red List .
Snake Island has been protected as an area of ecological sake since 1985 ; only the Brazilian United States Navy and research teams with particular waivers are permitted to get to the island . But poachers have also made their mode to the island to catch snakes and extract their venom , which is extremely prized on the black market , according toBBC Science Focus . scientist think thenumber of these snakes is decreasingpartly due to this illegal swop , but also due to disease and inbreeding .
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