Squamata › Elapidae
Indian cobra
Most 1 to 1.5 m
The cobra cannot hear the pipe it seems to dance to. It is provoked into a striking position instead.
Field Guide · Chapter 11 of 29
Snakes and lizards
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Squamata › Elapidae
Black mamba
Reported at 4.5 m long
The black mamba is not black. Its name describes the inside of its mouth, which it opens when threatened.
Squamata › Viperidae
Puff adder
Large ones: 190 cm
It causes more snakebite deaths in Africa than any other African snake.
Squamata › Viperidae
European adder
Lives farther north
It lives farther north than any other snake species.
Squamata › Elapidae
Eastern coral snake
Usually under 80 cm
It is the only known venomous snake in North America that lays eggs.
Squamata › Colubridae
Common garter snake
Up to 137 cm long
It can keep poisons from the amphibians it eats, and that deters predators.
Squamata › Boidae
Boa constrictor
Females 2.1 to 3.0 m
A report of an 18.5 ft boa turned out to be a green anaconda.
Squamata › Pythonidae
Reticulated python
One measured 6.95 m
Non-venomous, and a strong enough swimmer to be reported far out at sea.
Squamata › Pythonidae
Green tree python
People mistake it for an emerald tree boa when it is seen outside its natural habitat.
Squamata › Helodermatidae
Gila monster
Up to 56 cm long
The only lizard in the United States that carries venom.
Squamata › Agamidae
Central bearded dragon
Up to 60 cm long
Its beard turns jet black and inflates during the display.
Squamata › Agamidae
Thorny devil
Eats thousands of ants
It drinks through its skin, with water running along channels to its mouth.
Squamata › Agamidae
Frilled-neck lizard
Around 90 cm long
Its neck frill can open to over four times the length of its torso.
Squamata › Varanidae
Nile monitor
Up to 244 cm long
Dwarfed by the Komodo dragon, yet one of the largest lizards in the world.
Squamata › Scincidae
Common blue-tongued skink
Up to 25 live young
When threatened it puffs up, hisses and sticks out a bright blue tongue to look bigger than it is.
Squamata › Dactyloidae
Green anole
4 to 8 cm long
People in the southeastern US call it a chameleon, but it is not a true chameleon.
Squamata › Eublepharidae
Leopard gecko
Males 20 to 28 cm long
Unlike many geckos, it cannot climb smooth vertical walls.
Squamata › Corytophanidae
Plumed basilisk
Runs on water
It runs across water to get away from predators.
Crocodylia › Crocodylidae
Nile crocodile
Over 6.1 m recorded
The largest predator in Africa, and maybe the second-largest reptile alive.
Reptilia › Crocodylia › Crocodylidae
Saltwater crocodile
The largest living reptile. A 4.59 m crocodile bit with 16,414 newtons, the highest force measured in a laboratory.
Crocodylia › Gavialidae
Gharial
Males 3 to 6 m long
Some gharials have been found with jewellery in their stomachs.
Crocodylia › Alligatoridae
Spectacled caiman
Up to 2.64 m long
Nest temperature decides the sex of the young.
1 of 22
On this page
- Indian cobra
- Black mamba
- Puff adder
- European adder
- Eastern coral snake
- Common garter snake
- Boa constrictor
- Reticulated python
- Green tree python
- Gila monster
- Central bearded dragon
- Thorny devil
- Frilled-neck lizard
- Nile monitor
- Common blue-tongued skink
- Green anole
- Leopard gecko
- Plumed basilisk
- Nile crocodile
- Saltwater crocodile
- Gharial
- Spectacled caiman
What is real here
Every photograph and every outline comes from a real, openly licensed image, credited at the bottom of its card. Only plain charts are drawn.
The words on these cards are written by AI from the sources named on each card. Software matched every number and claim to a sentence in those sources. Mistakes are still possible, so follow a card's links before relying on it.
Globe dots are real recorded sightings from GBIF. Where a card says native range only, they are clipped to that range. Otherwise they can include zoos, gardens and places the species was introduced.