SomeFacts | Reptiles

Reptiles

Which snakes once won a battle for humans?
Hannibal, the Carthaginian general, ordered jars of live snakes to be ...

What is lucky in China but evil in the West?
Dragons! These mythical beasts are scaly, sharp-toothed and ...

What are herpetologists?
People who study reptiles. Herpetologist comes from a Greek word ...

What help is on hand for sea turtles?
Endangered sea turtles are being helped by people who organize ...

Are reptiles welcome in the garden?
Yes apart from large poisonous snakes! Few reptiles, that wander into ...

What is the worst time of year to meet an adder?
Early in the spring is the most dangerous time to meet poisonous ...

Which animal in Britain has killed most people?
The adder is the biggest poisonous animal in Britain, but it has not ...

Which reptiles are valued for their skin?
Many reptiles have been hunted to the brink of extinction for their ...

How many reptiles do people kill every year?
It's not possible to say, but we are more dangerous to reptiles than ...

How many people do reptiles kill every year?
Poisonous snakes bite large numbers of people every year, though ...

How do some snakes play possum?
When they are caught, or badly frightened, some snakes pretend to be ...

What is “a snake in the grass”? The phrase “a snake in the grass”
means a hidden enemy. It was first used in Roman times, when people ...

How do snake charmers charm snakes?
Snake charmers in India keep cobras or other very poisonous snakes in ...

What was a snake doing in the Garden of Eden?
The snake in the Garden of Eden is supposed to have tempted Eve, the ...

How do you milk a snake?
Milking a snake means taking venom from it. This is a job for an ...

What is a front-fanged snake?
It's a snake with a poisonous bite. The poison is made in glands, ...

Why haven’t snakes got legs?
The early ancestors of snakes did have legs, and they could walk ...

Which Greek god has snakes around his staff?
Hermes, messenger to the gods, is often shown carrying a staff with ...

What is a constrictor?
A constrictor means a squeezer it's a snake that squeezes its prey to ...

What is a snakestone?
A snakestone is the name that used to be given to fossils of ...

Are snakes aggressive?
Most snakes are peaceable animals, and hurry away from trouble if ...

How does a flying snake fly?
No snake can fly like a bird, but the golden tree snake comes nearest ...

Do snakes ever have legs?
No snake has legs, but a few kinds have tiny claws toward their rear ...

Why do snakes swallow their food whole?
Snakes' teeth are sharply pointed, good for holding food, but no use ...

Can snakes hear through their jaws?
Snakes have no eardrums, so they can hardly hear any airborne sounds. ...

Can snakes shut their eyes?
A snake has no eyelids, so it can't shut its eyes, even when it's ...

Which is the smallest snake?
The smallest snakes are the blind or thread snakes. They are rarely ...

Why are some lizards black?
You can often find black lizards in high mountains, where the ...

Can lizards walk on water?
No! But the basilisk lizards of South America can run over water for ...

Do lizards eat seaweed?
The only seaweed-eating lizard is the marine iguana from the ...

Why do some lizards have very fat tails?
Lizards that live on the edge of deserts, where there is rainfall and ...

Where does a lizard hold the purse strings?
In the past, the Japanese carried purses fastened by toggles called ...

Where can you see lizards in the sky?
Look up into the sky on a summer night in the northern hemisphere, ...

When does a lizard look like a snake?
Several kinds of lizard are left alone by their enemies, because they ...

Why do lizards pretend to be beetles?
One little lizard, that lives in the Kalahari Desert, has a tail ...

Which lizard can move its eyes independently?
The chameleon! Its eyes are partly surrounded by skin, and look as if ...

When is a lizard like a hedgehog?
When threatened by a larger enemy, the spiny lizard of South Africa ...

What creature can grow two tails?
A lizard's tail may break if bitten by an attacker. At first the tail ...

What creature blows itself up like a balloon?
Chuckwallas live in North American deserts. If one is attacked it ...

Is it true that lizards never stop growing?
Like all reptiles, lizards grow fast when they are young. After they ...

Where do lizards live?
There are at least 2,500 different kinds of lizards. Except for ...

What creature shoots blood from its eyes?
If a horned lizard is attacked, it can increase the blood pressure in ...

What is a sandfish?
A sandfish is not a fish at all, but a smooth, shiny-skinned lizard ...

Which lizards have the biggest stomachs?
American horned lizards and the Australian moloch lizard feed on ...

What lizard flies?
Lizards cannot fly like birds, but some forest dwellers can glide for ...

Which lizard has eaten people?
The biggest of all lizards is called the Komodo dragon. This fearsome ...

Why should you avoid being bitten by a beaded lizard?
You can tell a beaded lizard because its scales make it look as ...

When do kids walk like crocodiles?
When they walk two by two. A line of schoolchildren walking in pairs ...

How do baby crocodiles call their mum?
When they are ready to hatch, baby crocodiles croak to their mother, ...

Which animal has 45 sets of teeth before it is fully grown?
Even if it could, a crocodile never has any need to wear false teeth. ...

Where are crocodiles farmed?
In many parts of the world where crocodiles have become very rare, ...

Do crocodiles like getting water up their noses?
No. They prefer calm water to swim in. To swim, a crocodile holds its ...

Why don’t crocodiles need sunshades?
The heavy skin of a crocodile is protected by scales. In some place ...

Do crocodiles use birds as toothbrushes?
In a way, yes! The Nile crocodile often rests with its mouth open. ...

What are crocodile tears?
Crocodile tears are not real tears of sadness. So someone crying ...

Why is the crocodile in danger?
Some types of crocodile have become very rare, because people have ...

What does a baby crocodile eat?
After it has finished eating the yolk from its egg, the baby ...

Which mother carries its babies in its fearsome mouth?
Mother crocodiles help their young by breaking away the hard cap of ...

Which creature lives in a box?
The box turtle is a small tortoise, with a hinged shell. When it is ...

Why are some cats and butterflies called tortoiseshells?
They get their name because of their colors. The underside of the ...

How did a tortoise outrun a hare?
The ancient story of the hare and the tortoise tells how these two ...

Why did the hawksbill turtle need protecting?
Tortoiseshell is the horny outer layer of the hawksbill turtle's ...

Which Greek poet was killed by a tortoise?
The poet Aeschylus is supposed to have been killed by a tortoise in ...

What drove many tortoises to extinction?
Human beings, unfortunately. The big members of the tortoise family ...

How do tortoises breathe?
Because their bodies are enclosed in a bony box, tortoises can't ...

How is the shell joined to the tortoise?
A tortoise's armor is made of bone overlaid with horn. The bones are ...

How many tortoises and terrapins are there?
There are 240 different kinds of tortoises, terrapins, and turtles to ...

So what is a turtle?
Some people use the word "turtle" to include tortoises and terrapins. ...

What’s the difference between a tortoise and a terrapin?
Difficult to tell at first, because tortoises and terrapins are both ...

Where is the best place to find dinosaur fossils?
In a museum! Lots have wonderful collections of fossil bones. But the ...

Which was the first dinosaur to be given a name?
The first dinosaur to be given a name was not, strangely, the first ...

Which was the first dinosaur to be discovered?
It is likely that ancient people sometimes found the bones of ...

How can we tell what dinosaurs ate?
Teeth are always the clue to what an animal eats. Slicing daggers, ...

How do dinosaurs get their names?
Names like Tyrannosaurus, which we use today, were given by the ...

What did the dinosaurs eat?
The dinosaurs are the best known prehistoric animals. Tyrannosaurus, ...

Why are modern reptiles sometimes called ‘living fossils’?
All the reptiles alive today are very similar to those that lived in ...

What was the Age of Reptiles?
The Age of Reptiles lasted from about 200 million years ago, until ...

Are any baby reptiles born like mammals?
In some geckos and skinks the eggs that the mother holds inside her ...

Which reptile babies don’t hatch out of eggs?
All reptiles hatch out of eggs, but some hatch inside their mother's ...

Do reptile fathers ever help to bring up their families?
The male mugger, an Indian crocodile, sometimes crushes the eggs that ...

Do any reptiles make good mothers?
Most reptile mothers don't look after their young. Crocodiles and ...

How does a baby reptile get out of its egg?
Before it hatches, a baby reptile grows a small, sharp bump on the ...

How long does a baby reptile take to develop in the egg?
A long time - much longer than birds with eggs of a similar size. The ...

Which reptile lays most eggs?
Geckos usually lay only one or two eggs, but most reptiles produce ...

When do male reptiles get really angry?
In the breeding season. Male reptiles may fight for territory, and ...

Are reptiles good, caring parents?
Not usually! Most reptiles don't look after their families at all, so ...

How do reptiles regulate their temperature?
They manage to keep at the best temperature, for their needs, by ...

Which reptile has an invisible shadow?
Lichen bark geckos are little lizards that live in Madagascar. They ...

Why do some snakes borrow dangerous colors?
A predator that has had a bad experience with a poisonous snake, will ...

Why are some reptiles bright red and black?
The venomous lizards and some small poisonous snakes, called coral ...

How can you tell male and female reptiles apart?
Some male lizards are brightly colored in the breeding season, which ...

Do reptiles change color as they grow?
Brightly colored reptiles, such as lizards and snakes, may change ...

Can reptiles see in color like we can?
Reptiles that are active in daylight can probably see much the same ...

How quickly can a reptile change color?
Flash changes of color take a fraction of a second. Pigment changes ...

Why do reptiles change color?
Reptiles, particularly lizards, can change their colors for many ...

What reptiles are vegetarian?
The chief plant-eaters among the reptiles are the land tortoises and ...

Which reptiles like eating jellyfish?
Almost all marine turtles eat some jellyfish, but the leathery turtle ...

Do reptiles chew their food?
No, they don't. Reptiles that feed on flesh generally swallow their ...

Do reptiles pick up their food to eat it?
Most reptiles use their heads and teeth to catch their prey, but they ...

Do reptiles need to drink?
All animals need water and reptiles are no exception. Some drink ...

How does reptile poison work?
The venom that some reptiles produce works in two ways. Part of it ...

How do reptiles find their food?
Some use their eyes, first noticing the movements made by their prey, ...

Do most reptiles eat big meals?
Big reptiles eat big meals for their size. A crocodile may scoff a ...

How often do reptiles eat?
Reptiles that eat large meals don't need to eat very often. One that ...

Which reptiles are toothless?
Turtles, terrapins, and tortoises never have any teeth. Instead, they ...

Which reptiles catch their food with their tongues?
Best-known of the tongue-catchers are the chameleons, which stalk ...

How do turtles swim?
Turtles have webbed feet, which they use like frogman flippers to ...

Why do reptiles have a curvy walk?
Most reptiles have legs that stick out from the sides of their ...

How do snakes swim?
Snakes swim by curving their bodies and pushing hard against the ...

How fast does a snake strike its prey?
A striking prairie rattlesnake moves its head at an average speed of ...

Are reptiles long-distance runners?
No. Reptiles run out of gas very quickly, so they can't run far. If a ...

What runs upside-down?
Geckos are lizards that sometimes come into houses and run about on ...

How does a snake manage without legs?
Snakes generally move by throwing their bodies into big curves, and ...

Where do reptiles move faster than humans?
It's a close thing! Water reptiles, such as turtles or crocodiles, ...

Can reptiles climb trees?
Many kinds of lizards live in trees, using their sharp claws to cling ...

How speedy are reptiles?
They may look as if they are running fast, but because their bodies ...

How do reptiles help us study evolution?
Scientists compare reptiles that are found on remote islands, with ...

How hot do reptiles like it?
Although they are cold-blooded, the body temperature of reptiles can ...

Are reptiles good at DIY?
No. Reptiles are not home-makers like many mammals. Some may dig ...

Why aren’t there any snakes in Ireland?
Legend says that St. Patrick cast all the snakes out of Ireland. In ...

Which reptiles like to get in the swim?
Water is the home for crocodiles and alligators, sea snakes, and ...

Which reptile lives at the North Pole?
No reptile lives right at the North Pole, but several kinds are found ...

Why do most reptiles live in hot places?
Because they are cold-blooded, and need heating up by the sun! ...

Where do reptiles live?
Reptiles make their homes in all sorts of places - in deserts and ...

How do reptiles get to be on remote islands?
Scientist think that reptiles first got to small islands like Komodo ...

How do reptiles while away the winter?
Without the sun, they slow down, and some of them stop altogether! As ...

How old do reptiles get?
As a rule, reptiles live longer than mammals, or birds of a similar ...

Do reptiles eat a lot?
No. Cold-blooded animals live on a low-energy system. Compared to ...

What is the world’s biggest reptile?
The longest reptile is a snake, called the reticulated python. It ...

What is the world’s smallest reptile?
The smallest of all reptiles are dwarf geckos, which live in the West ...

Have some reptiles got three eyes?
Not three eyes that can focus, and actually see things, but many ...

When are reptiles invisible?
Some reptiles are brightly colored and easy to see. But most are ...

Are reptiles terrifically noisy animals?
Most reptiles are very quiet. But some hiss with anger or fear. Some ...

How many kinds of reptiles are there?
There are about 6,000 different kinds of reptiles. These can be ...

What does cold-blooded mean?
Cold-blooded means that an animal does not have a thermostat inside ...

So, what is a reptile?
A reptile is an animal that you are most likely to see in the warmer ...