Eastern Coral Snake | 台北市立動物園資訊網

Coralsnakesareextremelyreclusiveandgenerallybitehumansonlywhenhandledorsteppedon.Theymustliterallychewontheirvictimtoinjecttheirvenom ...

Common Name: Eastern Coral Snake

Scientific Name: Micrurus fulvius

Type: Reptiles

Diet: Carnivore

Group Name: Bed, knot

Average Life Span In Captivity: Up to 7 years

Size: 20 to 30 inches

Least Concern Extinct

A bite from the notoriously venomous eastern coral snake at first seems anticlimactic.

There is little or no pain or swelling at the site of the bite, and other symptoms can be delayed for 12 hours. However, if untreated by antivenin, the neurotoxin begins to disrupt the connections between the brain and the muscles, causing slurred speech, double vision, and muscular paralysis, eventually ending in respiratory or cardiac failure.

This iconic snake, with its bulbous head and red, yellow, and black bands, is famous as much for its potent venom as for the many rhymes—"Red and yellow, kill a fellow; red and black...