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FUN FACTS

Can you find the Tree Frog ?

Click here to go to a Wrappin About Reptiles colouring sheet you can print out!

Do you know what a Herpetologist is?
People who go to University to study reptiles are called Herpetologists.

Herpetoculturists are people that raise and collect reptiles.

Herpetology comes from a Greek word that means "creeping"!

Snake Facts:

There are about 2,700 different species of snakes in the world!
The longest snake in the world is the Reticulated Python, they can get to be 32 feet and 10 inches (about 11m) long!
The heaviest snake in the world is the Green Anaconda, it can weight up to 500lbs (227kg) but only reaches 26 feet (8m).
The Thread snake and Blind snake at only 4.25 inches (11cm) are the smallest snakes in the world!
The Hook Nose Sea snake is the most lethal snake in the world, it's venom is 100x more potent than the Taipan!
Most venomous snake on land is the Inland Taipan or Fierce Snake.
A Prairie Rattlesnake can strike at a speed of 8 feet (2.43m) per second for a distance equal to up to half it's body length!
Some snakes can see heat using thermal pits in their lower jaw!
Sea snakes live in the ocean but still need to surface to breath!
The fastest snake speed recorded was the Black Mamba at 10-12mph (14-19kph)!
The biggest snake in captivity is "Baby" a Burmese Python at 27 feet (9meters) 404 lbs (184kg).
King Cobras are the largest venomous snakes in the world, the largest recorded specimen was kept at the London Zoo, it was 18 feet 9 inches long (over 5 and a half meters)!
Over a 14 year period from 1951 to 1965, Bernard Keyter, a supervisor at the South African Institute for Medical Research in Johannesburg, milked a record 780,000 venomous snakes, obtaining 870gal. of venom. He has never been bitten.
More American are killed by lightning strikes each year than snakes.

Did you know snakes shed their skin in one piece, and it peels off like a sock - inside out!

The oldest fossil of a reptile is about 280 million years old! WOW!

Lizard Facts:

Some lizards can fly! Their are Flying Dragons that can flare out their ribs in order to glide up to 65 feet (20m) from tree to tree!
Fastest recorded speed of a lizard was 16mph (27kph)!
The largest lizard is the Komodo Dragon averages 10 feet (3m) and weight up to 330lbs (150kg)!
The largest Komodo ever recorded was 10 feet 3 inches(3.13m) and weighed 365lbs (166kg).

You probably knew lizards shed their skin too but what about spiders?

Yep, spiders molt out of their old exoskeleton several times in their lives!

Spider & Bug Facts:

Male Tarantulas only live for about 5 - 9years while females can live for up to 32 years!
There are over 30,000 different kinds of spiders!
Some spiders spin parachutes with their webbing and fly around on currents of air!
The Goliath Bird Eating Tarantula lives in South America and can grow as large a dinner plate having a leg span of up to 11 inches (27.5cm)!
The biggest spiders web ever was recorded in October 1998, a cobweb covered an 11.2 acre playing field in Warwickshire, England. It had been created by thousands of Black Money spiders.
Giant Millipedes can have between 400 - 600 pairs of legs!

Tortoise & Turtle Facts:

The smallest Tortoise is the Speckled Cape Tortoise, it's maximum shell length is only 3.8 inches (9cm).
The Worlds rarest living creature is the Abingdon Island Giant Tortoise, "Lonesome George" is the last of his species in existence.
Alligator Snapping Turtles are the largest inland Turtles their can get to be 280lbs (127kg) and be 3-4 feet (90-120cm)long.
Leatherback Sea Turtles are the largest marine Turtles in the world and can weigh from 700-2000lbs (318-909kg) and be as long as 5-8 feet (1.5-2.4m).
Harriet a Galapagos Tortoise living at The Australia Zoo ( home of the Croc Hunter ) will be 177 years old on November 14th 2005.
In the past, snapping turtles were used to locate dead human bodies underwater.
Turtles lack teeth. They chew with a bony surface in their mouth.

Crocodilians:

Did you know? Crocodiles and Alligators aren't lizards, they belong to the Crocodilian Family!
The heaviest reptile is the Saltwater Crocodile, he can weight in at up to 2,200 lb's (1,000 kg's) and grow to 23feet (7m) long!
A Crocodile can go thru up to 45 sets of teeth by the time it's fully grown!
The smallest crocodilian in the world is the Dwarf Caiman, females rarely exceed 4 feet (120cm).
Did you know that some crocodiles see the Dentist! Really they do. The spur-winged plover bird will walk up to a crocodile and if it's mouth is open, just Walk in and start to pick at any debris in the mouth, in some cases the crocodiles will see the birds coming and open their mouths for them. Talk about a dangerous profession.

Amphibians:

The largest recorded amphibian in the world is a Chinese Giant Salamander, it was 5 feet 11 inches long and weighed 143 lbs (65kg).
One of the smallest amphibian species is also one the most dangerous. It is called the Poison Arrow Frog. The poison secretes from the skin and is quite lethal to predators big and small.
One of the worlds largest frog, the African Bullfrog also known as the Pixie Frog is a voracious eater. Their nickname is The Lean Mean Green Eating Machine and true to this species, what ever they can fit into their mouth they will eat.
Most frogs can leap more than 20 times their body length. For an average sized human that would be like a 100 foot leap in a single bound.
The Goliath frog from Cameroon Africa is the worlds largest frog at 7 pounds and over 12 inches long.

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