Reptile Facts

Reptiles exist on every continent, except Antarctica and are the animal kingdom’s most diverse species.

With over 8,000 species, they are one of the most fascinating of all creature groups.

Interesting facts about reptiles:

Reptiles are ‘cold-blooded’ which means that they do not have the natural ability to keep themselves warm or regulate their body temperature.

• One of the longest lived species on the planet are the reptiles. The Aldabra tortoise can live to over 150 years and alligators have an average life span of seventy years. The Ball python snake can live to be forty years old.
• Snakes are reptiles and almost two-thirds of the world’s snakes are non-venomous. Of the five hundred species of snakes that are venomous, only thirty to forty are harmful to people. When you do the math, that means only two percent of the world’s snakes are harmful to people.

Although the information showed that only a small percentage of snakes are venomous, this is not the case in Australia. There are more venomous than non-venomous snakes there and Australia holds the record as being the only continent where this situation exists.

• In the United States, more people die of bee stings (both from allergic reaction and quantity of stings) than those that die from snake bites.
• The single most dangerous reptile is the Komodo Dragon. While it is large, it is somewhat slow moving. The Komodo Dragon has the most bacteria in its mouth than any other creature. One bite can cause an infection that enters the body and will kill even the largest animal. The Komodo Dragon doesn’t chase the prey, once bitten, it just slowly tracks it until it finds it dead.

Certain reptiles can go months without eating. This is true for large constrictor snakes. They have a tendency to eat huge meals and since they have a slower metabolism than people, it takes a long time to digest the food.

Crocodiles and alligators are considered reptiles and the crocodile can’t stick out its tongue.

A female leatherback turtle finds the location where it originally hatched and will return to it to lay her own eggs. She can lay as many as 200 eggs at one time.