Answer
May 28, 2018 - 02:49 PM
There are no native snakes in Ireland due to the ice age according to National Geographic.
Britain, which had a land bridge to mainland Europe until about 6,500 years ago, was colonized by three snake species: the venomous adder, the grass snake, and the smooth snake.
But Ireland's land link to Britain was cut some 2,000 years earlier by seas swollen by the melting glaciers, Nigel Monaghan, keeper of natural history at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin.
Animals that reached Ireland before the sea became an impassible barrier included brown bears, wild boars, and lynxes, but "snakes never made it," he said.
Snake populations are slow to colonize new areas, Monaghan added.
Mark Ryan, director of the Louisiana Poison Center at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, agreed that the timing wasn't right for the sensitive, cold-blooded reptiles to expand their range.
"There are no snakes in Ireland for the simple reason they couldn't get there because the climate wasn't favorable for them to be there," he said.
Other reptiles didn't make it either, except for one: the common or viviparous lizard.
Scholars suggest the tale of St. Patrick chasing the serpents into the sea is allegorical. Serpents are symbols of evil in Judeo-Christian beliefs. The Bible, for example, portrays a snake as the hissing agent of Adam and Eve's fall from grace.
Interesting fact: New Zealand is one of several large islands around the globe where there have never been native snake populations. The others are Antarctica, Iceland and Newfoundland. Snakes are more common than lizards around the world, and yet New Zealand is home to several species of lizard and not a single snake.
Britain, which had a land bridge to mainland Europe until about 6,500 years ago, was colonized by three snake species: the venomous adder, the grass snake, and the smooth snake.
But Ireland's land link to Britain was cut some 2,000 years earlier by seas swollen by the melting glaciers, Nigel Monaghan, keeper of natural history at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin.
Animals that reached Ireland before the sea became an impassible barrier included brown bears, wild boars, and lynxes, but "snakes never made it," he said.
Snake populations are slow to colonize new areas, Monaghan added.
Mark Ryan, director of the Louisiana Poison Center at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, agreed that the timing wasn't right for the sensitive, cold-blooded reptiles to expand their range.
"There are no snakes in Ireland for the simple reason they couldn't get there because the climate wasn't favorable for them to be there," he said.
Other reptiles didn't make it either, except for one: the common or viviparous lizard.
Scholars suggest the tale of St. Patrick chasing the serpents into the sea is allegorical. Serpents are symbols of evil in Judeo-Christian beliefs. The Bible, for example, portrays a snake as the hissing agent of Adam and Eve's fall from grace.
Interesting fact: New Zealand is one of several large islands around the globe where there have never been native snake populations. The others are Antarctica, Iceland and Newfoundland. Snakes are more common than lizards around the world, and yet New Zealand is home to several species of lizard and not a single snake.
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