Below we will answer the question of how many years the snake lives both in the wild and in captivity (zoos, terrariums). What is the period of her life - both maximum and average, on what factors it depends, and even whether the snake can be an enemy to man. You will read about all this in this article.
Snakes. Who is this and where do they live?
Representatives of the Reptile Scale squad class - snakes - are found throughout the planet, except that they are not in the air. They developed lands from the Arctic Circle to the southernmost regions of the American continent. They live in a variety of ecosystems - steppe, forest, desert, mountain. True, most snakes still prefer the tropics (Asian, African, American, Australian). There are snakes that are characteristic only for a specific range. But there are real cosmopolitans. For example, one of the most common snakes on the globe - the viper - has mastered all continents.
You will not find snakes in Greenland, Iceland and Ireland - that is, areas close to high latitudes.
However, one should not think that the snake divorced in abundance. Like most animals, under the onslaught of human economic activity and his indefatigable thirst for the development of new lands, some species of snakes are now considered endangered - 30 species are listed in the International Red Book, and 15 species are listed in the Russian Red Book. Central Asian cobra.
Snake Life Span in the Wild
In the wild, studying the life of snakes, including its duration, is a rather difficult task. It requires a lot of time, special conditions, professionalism of scientists. Itโs easier to do this in captivity, of course. But researchers still have some data. For example, how many years has the viper snake lived , one of the most common snakes? The answer is known: the maximum duration of her life in the wild is 12-15 years.
For the wild, this is a lot, since there are many factors that shorten the life span of these reptiles. Firstly, snakes live in a limited space, moving no more than a hundred meters. Secondly, snakes have natural enemies. These are birds feeding on snakes (storks, owls, most representatives of hawks, in particular serpent eagles, etc.), as well as animals - ferrets, badgers, foxes and even hedgehogs. Well, many individuals are eliminated while still young, for example, from diseases.
In general, serpentologists say that the size of the body of a snake is directly related to the duration of its life. So, snakes, like snakes of small sizes, live for 10-15 years. But pythons are already up to 30 years old, and according to some reports even up to half a century.
Allegedly, in the tropical jungle there were giant Latin American boas, who lived for 120 years. True, it is not possible to clarify how reliable this information is. It is possible that this is speculation.
How many years does a snake live in captivity?
It is generally accepted that in captivity, with proper care, some species of snakes can live for half a century. Indeed, not so long ago, the dark python ended its days at the Moscow Zoo. He lived for about 50 years and reached a length of more than 5 meters. As much can live in the terrarium and the royal python. But it is believed that these are long-lived record holders among captive snakes.
In addition, this data has not been officially registered. But well-known data on various types of snakes. They are quite old, but this is definitely not a rumor.
So, the record of longevity among snakes belongs to a boa constrictor named Papay. He died at the Philadelphia Zoo in 1977 and lived a little over 40 years.
And how long does the anaconda snake live? It is known that in the Washington Zoo, one of the anacondas lasted 28 years.
The average duration of a snake life is from 10 to a maximum period of 20 years. You can learn about how many years the cobra snake lives from quite reliable sources. These largest poisonous snakes lived in captivity for more than 30 years, and grew throughout life, as a result, the length of the body of individual specimens was more than 5 and a half meters.
Other species of cobras in captivity live from 12 to 15 years, the American kuroed can live 18.
And of course, you need to understand that we are talking about keeping the animal in captivity, and captivity implies comfortable conditions for the specimen, a good diet, the absence of enemies, the ability to maintain an existence characteristic of this species and veterinary care. As a rule, all this is possible in the zoo.
But nowadays, lovers who contain snakes at home are increasingly found. But with improper care, the snake (for example, a snake, which is recommended for beginners to keep) will not last a couple of months. And with the right one - it will reach two decades and, perhaps, will please the novice serpentologist with its offspring.
Conclusion
Among all the extraordinary species of animals on the planet, snakes are the most peculiar. With their appearance near a person, they often cause the latter to panic or even mild attack of paranoia. This horror can so astound him that he who encounters a snake will not even be able to determine whether it is a poisonous snake in front of him or a harmless one.
Meanwhile, it is believed that snakes cannot experience aggression towards humans and attack only by defending themselves. Indeed, all snakes are predators, and prey for them in the wild are lizards, small rodents, frogs, birds, fish, snails. It is worth noting that most snakes are so whimsical that they prefer food of the same species throughout their lives.
At the same time, known precautions when handling snakes will not hurt. Because after all, any snake is dangerous, all snakes have teeth, and they all know how to use them, regardless of whether they are poisonous or not. There are no snakes as tame as our beloved cats, dogs, hamsters. A snake is a serious predator, and it perceives a person at best as a warm tree (because all snakes are sensitive to the heat that the body radiates). At worst, the snake will feel a threat in you, and its reaction in this case will be lightning fast.