You have probably heard "tricks" for spotting a venomous snake at a glance: cat eyes, triangle heads, and so on. In a few parts of the world, simple rules like that actually work. In most places, including nearly all of the United States, they do not. Here are the popular rules and why each one fails. Then we will get to what works. "Venomous snakes have triangular heads." Snakes with venom glands do have a bulge behind the eyes. But almost any snake can flatten its head or flare its neck to look bigger and scarier, and to someone who does not look at snakes every day, most snake heads look "triangular" anyway.
This lesson is part of Certified Junior Herpetologist. Enrollment is self-paced, with no deadline to finish (about 30 hours).
