The Aptly-Named Snake Island

Of the coast of Sao Paolo, Brazil sits Ilha de Queimada Grande, or as its known colloquially in English, Snake Island.  The island, roughly 110 acres of trees, is uninhabited.  Travel to the island is expressly forbidden by the Brazilian navy.  Why?  Because Queimada Grande is home to hundreds of thousands of golden lanceheads, the snake pictured above.

Golden lanceheads are unique to Queimada Grande.  The snake, which typically grows to be about two feet long, can at extremes grow to nearly double that length.  And its venom is poisonous.  Very, very poisonous.

Lanceheads, generally (that is, the more common cousins of the golden lancehead), are responsible for 90% of snake bite-related fatalities in Brazil.  The mortality rate from a lancehead bite is 7% if the wound goes untreated — and can be as high as 3% even if treatment is given.  The venom causes a grab bag of symptoms, including kidney failure, necrosis of muscular tissue, brain hemorrhaging, and intestinal bleeding.  Scary stuff, to be sure.

For Snake Island, the picture is even scarier.  The data above does not include bites from the golden lancehead, as there are no official records of a golden lancehead-caused fatality due to the de facto quarantine on their island.  A chemical analysis of golden lancehead venom suggests that the snake is much, much more dangerous than its continental cousins:  Golden lancehead venom is faster acting and more powerful — perhaps five times more powerful.

Two foot long snakes with such powerful venom, combined, means that getting close to one carries with it a high risk of death.  And getting close to one is all but certain on Snake Island.  Even the most conservative estimate suggests that the golden lancehead population density on Queimada Grande is one per square meter; others suggest a population as high as five per square meter.  Regardless, as one site points out, even at the lower estimate, “you’re never more than three feet away from death.”

Bonus fact: It should go without saying that if, for some reason, you want to go to Snake Island, you’ll need to take a boat.   Boats are odd vehicles in that they spend their entire lives in water, but clearly aren’t created there.  Ever wonder how a boat goes from the builder’s yard (on land) into the water?  Watch this video.

From the Archives: The Undiscovered Island of the Polar Bear: Another island without human inhabitants.

Related: In case you want to start your own snake island.