Ophidiophobia is the irrational fear of snakes–those slithering, scaly reptiles that have been cast as the archetypal villain throughout history. Their unnatural movements and eerily flexible jaw joints do nothing to lessen their evil reputation. And even though the likelihood of encountering a snake is low, ophidiophobia is one of the most pervasive phobias in the world, making the famous question posited by Indiana Jones a fitting query, “Why did it have to be snakes?” In this week’s Book of the Week, we explore the notoriety and reality behind this cringe-worthy and feared animal in Doris Cochran’s “Poisonous reptiles of the world.”

Ancistrodon rhodostoma, a venomous pitviper species.

Despite the improbability of encountering a snake in the wild, there is still good reason to be afraid. Of the almost 3,000 varieties of snake species, about a third are deadly–killing prey with a venomous bite, squeezing victims to death, or, truly poisonous snakes known by the genus Rhabdophis, that carry a toxin to be absorbed indirectly.

But Cochran did not see a significant need for concern, especially in the United States where only one-sixth of the native snake population is dangerous, noting that “In the Untied States alone automobiles kill more than 30,000 people annually, snakes probably 160; for every person killed by a snake, 200 die in automobile accidents.” Granted, that was almost 80 years ago, but the statistics haven’t changed much over the years.

There is at least one species of venomous snake indigenous to each of the 48 contiguous United States–belonging to two major groups, Elapidae or Viperidae.

Coral snakes represent the Elapidae group.

An example of the Viperidae group, most commonly recognized as a rattlesnake.

The Elapidae group, most commonly represented by coral snakes, is similar in appearance to many harmless snakes. The North American variety rarely exceeds three feet in length and is commonly found in Southern states from North Carolina to the Gulf. To deliver its deadly bite, the short, vertical fangs must fully impale the victim’s flesh. While characterized as “sluggish” and “gentle” when handling, coral snakes tend to strike suddenly, leaving behind an almost imperceptible mark. The small impressions left by the attack can lead to neglect in dealing with the venom, often with deadly consequences.

Pit vipers have a more threatening name, a more notorious reputation, and outnumber the Elapidae in the United States with more than 35 species and subspecies recognized. The Viperidae group includes rattlesnakes, massasaugas, copperheads, and cottonmouths and have greater variety in physical attributes than found in the coral snakes.

The way pit vipers go after prey is most accurately described as a strike. North American snakes never jump completely off the ground during an attack, with the snake wrapped in an S position, leaving the posterior grounded for greater leverage. This allows for the body weight to drive the hollow fangs deep into the victim’s tissue, sometimes even breaking off and remaining in the wound, only to be regrown by the snake in several days. If a handler wished to remove all the fangs, rendering the snake harmless, the upper jaw would be so damaged that the snake would likely die. The venom is distributed by a tube connecting a specialized salivary gland in the jaw to the hollow tooth on the movable maxilla, and ultimately to the blood stream of the prey.

Figure of the venom apparatus in a standard rattlesnake, with the jaw closed and fangs folded, the jaws open and the fangs at the ready.

If a person is extremely unlucky, and circumstances align in such a way that a snake is encountered in the wild, and during that brush with danger the unlikely scenario occurs in which the snake attacks and venom is delivered, what happens next can vary widely, but consistently does not tend to be pleasant.

All venoms contain several toxins, the most important of which are the hemorrhagins and the neurotoxins. The hemorrhagins constitute the chief toxic elements of the venom of rattlesnakes and most of the other pit vipers while the neurotoxins characterize the venom of the coral snake and its relative the cobra. These venoms can coagulate blood within seconds, paralyze the respiratory system, or attack the nervous system, but common symptoms include blurred vision, convulsions, dizziness, fever, nausea, numbness, swelling, and weakness.

The effects of even a chance encounter with a snake are not encouraging. Despite medical advancements since this book’s publication, the standard recourse for a snake bite remains the same: get thee to a hospital! And if you weren’t sympathetic to Indiana Jones’ ophidiophobic plight in his adventures prior to reading this post, perhaps you are now.

For more information on the snakes described in Cochran’s “Poisonous reptiles of the world” and other creepy crawlies that pose a threat, check out this great virtual exhibit from our BHL-Europe colleagues on all things poisonous in nature.

The Great Day of His Wrath (1853), Artist: John Martin

If you are reading this post then the world hasn’t ended…but, you probably already knew it wasn’t going to end.

Don’t look so disappointed. Yes, the human race regrettably has always had a collective death wish, eagerly awaiting the promise of the end of times since the beginning of times. Or have we? Ironically, it was the Maya, the ancient civilization that gave us such a precise date by which to count down to our own demise: December 21, 2012, that Mayan archeologist William Saturno explains looked for evidence that life goes on:

“We keep looking for endings. The Maya were looking for a guarantee that nothing would change. It’s an entirely different mindset.”

Mayan cosmology is more concerned about looking for assurances of continued life on earth, not death. So be comforted on this day – a day like any other – and use it to reflect on the greater value that life seems to take on in the face of our imminent death.

Besides a hopeful view of the future, the Maya had many beliefs worth adopting. Another foreign notion to our fast-paced-commerce-driven society is the worship of nature and animals as divine gods. The Mayans had a great reverence for nature which might explain why their entire religious pantheon is made up of deities that are either animals or humans with anthropomorphic features. They believed in worshiping life in its diverse manifestations.

Book of the Week

To honor this ancient civilization’s deep reverence for biodiversity we have chosen a singularly unique study undertaken by Alfred M. Tozzer and Glover M. Allen, for this week’s book of the week:

Animal Figures in the Maya Codices (1910)

Mr. Tozzer is one of the most famous American Mayanists to date and Mr. Glover was a zoologist specializing in Mesoamerican species at the turn of the last century. Together, the duo was determined to match Mayan hieroglyphic characters, glyphs and artwork depicting Mayan gods to modern species analogues. They were fairly successful in identifying the specific species that the Maya would come in contact with and thus idealize as religious deities.

Gilbert Borrego, our Flickr Guru, has scoured the BHL in search of Meso-american species and put together a 58 plate Flickr Collection dedicated to Mayan plant and animal life. We have matched these illustrations with the respective Mayan hieroglyphs present in Tozzer and Allen’s work. Your job is to examine the glyphs and see if you see any resemblance between the Mayan art and their species counterparts.

Jaguar (Panthera onca)

The jaguar a predatory animal symbolized strength, courage, associated with great Mayan warriors. Some scholars have also purported that the beautiful animal is the ruler of the Underworld.

Blue Macaw (Ara militaris)

According to Tozzer and Glover, the  Macaw was one of the lightning beasts associated with the worship of fire and the sun. Their brilliant blue feathers were often used in ceremonial headdresses.

Yucatan Screech Owl or Moan-Bird (Otus choliba thompsoni)

The owl is a symbol of death and destruction and is regarded as the Moon or Night God. The Owl resides in the  mythological “House of Drought,” unlike the serpent which occupies the “House of Rain”  therefore symbolizing life.<

Serpent (Boidae)

The serpent was extremely important for it symbolized the live-giving force rain, and thus regulated the annual yield of  crops. It is most likely that this association was made because snakes show themselves in large numbers before and after rainfall.

King Vulture (Sarcoramphus papa)

Scholars have speculated that the King Vulture symbolizes power as well as sacrifice. According to Mayan mythology ‘lesser’ Vultures would not eat until the King came down and plucked out the eyeballs and entrails of the dead.

Coppery-tailed Trogon aka The Quetzal (Pharomacrus mocinno)

The Quetzal, meaning ‘large brilliant tail feather’, is a rare bird found in certain parts of Southern Mexico. Its brilliant green color and particularly long tail feathers made it a sacred bird to the Mayans that was reserved for use in headdresses of rulers. The bird is associated with the mythical hero Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent god, whom the Mayans mistook conquistador Hernán Cortés for. According to an account by Alexander von Humboldt, the Mayans were impatiently awaiting the return of this god because he would bring a time of great peace with him. Read more about that here.

Clearly, Mayans were more concerned with the cycle of life rather than the end of the world as we know it. In the spirit of their great culture, take the time to celebrate your continued life today. And if for some reason you were in a panic about the world ending, then calm yourself and visit NASA’s 2012 de-bunked website.You’ll surely feel better.

We hope you enjoyed this post. Interested in guest-blogging for BHL? We’d love that! Natural history, biodiversity and conservation topics are especially welcomed. Email us your ideas at [email protected]

This week we decided to put the power of choosing the book of the week in the hands of our users. So, using the “Questions” app on our Facebook Page, we asked you which book out of the four options given you would like to see featured on our blog. The options were The Snakes of Australia, British Dragonflies, La Galerie des Oiseaux, and A Book of Whales. The winner?

The Snakes of Australia (1869), by Gerard Krefft!

The aim of this work was to provide a full account, with original descriptions retained wherever possible, of “nearly all the Australian Snakes discovered and recorded up to the year 1868.” The author points out that, by 1854, only “about twenty Australian Snakes were known.” In the succeeding five years, thirty were described, and, by the time of the writing of our book of the week, “seventy species were on record.”

For our post, we decided to highlight a few of the species presented in this book. So, sit back, relax, and read about Australian Snakes in the comfort of your own home (unless, of course, you’re not at home, in which case, the sitting back and relaxing part is completely up to you).

Black-Headed Python (Aspidiotes melanocephalus)

This non-venomous snake can grow up to 7’10”. It is typically “light brown, with a series of darker rings which become indistinct near the sides.” On the underbelly, the Black-Headed Python is “yellowish-white…with a few dark blotches,” while the head and neck are “jet-black above and below.” By the time that this publication was written, very little was known about the snake. “The first specimen which the Museum received was captured by Mr. Rainbird, the well-known collector at Port Denison.”

Common Death Adder (Acanthophis antarcticus)

The Common Death Adder is one of the most venomous land snakes in Australia and the world, with fangs longer than most of Australia’s venomous snakes. While a majority of Death Adders are gray with dark rings about the neck and tip of the tail, some members of the species may be red with dark spots. The species can be found in sandy locations, feeding on frogs, lizards, and small mammals. The author notes that, when threatened, the snake “flattens out its whole body, and darts right and left.” However, as previously thought, it “does not jump, and certainly never jumps backwards.”

Diamond Snake (Morelia spilotes)

This non-venomous snakes has nearly every scale marked with a central single yellow dot. “The largest specimen captured near Sydney, correctly measured, without being stretched, was 10 feet 3 inches long,” though, the author is certain, that specimens measuring over 11 feet no doubt occur, though much more rarely. In nature, this species eats only living mammals, though in captivity it has been observed swallowing already-dead animals. At the time of publication, the author commented that “the species under review are generally infested by various kinds of intestinal worms, including tape-worms, clusters of which have frequently been taken from their stomachs.”

Redbellied Black Snake (Pseudechis porphyriacus)

This species is the most common of all of Australia’s venomous snakes. It is “found in low marshy places, is fond of water, dives and swims well, and subsists principally upon frogs, lizards, insects, and other smaller mammalia.” Its highly venous bite can kill “good sized dogs or goats within an hour.” This species rarely grows beyond six feet in length.

This week’s book of the week, The Snakes of Australia (1869), by Gerard Krefft, was contributed by Harvard University, MCZ, Ernst Mayr Library.

To see more Facebook Questions, visit our Questions Page. And be sure to visit us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter (@BioDivLibrary).

So often with scientific illustration, one finds that the depiction of species or specimens are limited to the isolated rendering of the subject in question, devoid of any habitat or environmental context that gives the reader a clear picture of what life is truly like for the animal in the wild. So, when we came across the illustrations in Deutschlands Amphibien und Reptilien. Eine Beschreibung und Schilderung sämmtlicher in Deutschland und den angrenzenden Gebietan vrokommenden Lurche und Kreichthiere (1897) by Bruno Dürigen, we knew we had to highlight them. Plus, the plethora of reptile and amphibian species displayed seemed equally worthy of attention. So, enjoy these selected illustrations from our book of the week, learn more about the species depicted in each in EOL, and imagine what life might be like in the wild for our cold-blooded friends. Plus, don’t forget to take a look at the book in BHL to see all of the other illustrations that are not highlighted in this post!

1) Common Spadefoot (Pelobates fuscus/i>)
*More references in BHL

2) Agile Frog (Rana dalmatina, previously Rana agilis)
*More references in BHL.

3) Moor FrogRana arvalis
*More references in BHL.

4) European Frog (Rana temporaria, previously Rana muta)
More references in BHL.

5) Young European Frog

6) Spawn and Stages of Development of the European Frog

1) Fire Salamander (Salamandra maculosa)

1-3) Larval Stage

4) Adult
*More references in BHL.

5) Alpine Salamander (Salamandra atra)
*More references in BHL.

6) Male and 7) Female Alpine Newt (Mesotriton alpestris), previously Triton alpestris)
*More references in BHL.

Adder (Vipera sachalinensis, previously Vipera berus)

2) Male
3) Black Species Type
*More references in BHL.

This week’s book of the week, Deutschlands Amphibien und Reptilien. Eine Beschreibung und Schilderung sämmtlicher in Deutschland und den angrenzenden Gebietan vrokommenden Lurche und Kreichthiere (1897) by Bruno Dürigen, was contributed by the Smithsonian Institution.