Well, that’s true! Lying about 93 miles off the coast of São Paulo, Brazil, Ilha da Queimada Grande, or ‘The Snake Island’ is a forbidden paradise teeming with one of the most venomous snakes in the world, the golden lancehead viper.This mystery- and danger-filled remote island is inhabited by thousands of these deadly reptiles, each equipped with the power of venom strong enough to dissolve human flesh. Many seabirds descend to rest, they unconsciously enter into a deathly survival game where the golden lancehead’s swiftness at striking ensures its next meal.
Lying about 93 miles off São Paulo’s bustling metropolis, Ilha da Queimada Grande, also known as “Snake Island”, remains virgin to human building because an estimated 2,000 to 4,000 golden lancehead vipers call this island home, which works out at an astonishing one to two snakes per 200 square meters, or about 25 to 50 snakes on an American football field.
That would be less of a problem if they were small and non-venomous, but the residents of Queimada Grande are golden lanceheads- a species of pit viper and one of the most venomous snakes in the world. Lanceheads belong to the genre responsible for a reported 90 percent of all snakebite-related deaths in Brazil. The vipers are about half a meter in length and carry an extremely powerful hemotoxic venom that can melt the human skin and underlying tissues around their fangs.
Queimada Grande is a very crucial stopover point for many migratory seabirds that become easy prey for the island’s heavy snake population. The venom of the golden lancehead has evolved to be very deadly, enabling it to quickly incapacitate and kill seabirds which land in the trees of the island before they are able to take flight again. Living in an environment full of competitors yet free from ground-level predators, lethal venom secures survival and a successful livelihood for the golden lancehead.
Because of the highly venomous nature of these snakes, the Brazilian Navy has forbidden anyone from setting foot on this island, except perhaps a few scientific researchers. Again, the same reason underscores the dangerousness of Snake Island, where the golden lancehead has proud dominion.
There have never been any documented cases of a golden lancehead attacking a human, locals in the coastal towns around Queimada Grande enjoy telling two gruesome stories of death associated with Snake Island. In one of them, a local fisherman unknowingly strays upon the island to pick some bananas. Predictably, he gets bitten. He makes it back to his boat, but dies shortly thereafter from the snake’s venom. He is found sometime later on the boat deck in a great pool of blood.
Watch how snakes climb trees
The other story is about the final lighthouse operator and his family. One night, a few snakes enter through a window and attack the man, his wife, and their three children. In a desperate gambit to escape, they flee toward their boat, but they are bitten by snakes on branches overhead.
The figure of five snakes per square meter is an exaggeration of the locals, says Marcelo Duarte, a biologist who has visited Snake Island more than 20 times, though perhaps not by that much. One snake per square meter is more like it. Not that that should ease one’s mind: At one snake per meter, you’re never more than three feet away from death.
Presently, visiting the island legally requires the cooperation of the Brazilian Navy. A much safer bet is to try to see snakes in mainland Brazil, in captivity.
To do this you have three options:
Golden lanceheads can legally be seen at the Butantan Institute in São Paulo in the Serpentarium if one asks nicely.
Alternatively, you can go to the São Paulo Zoo, in whose snake house an enclosure resides with five adult lanceheads.
The last option is going to the Zoológico Municipal Quinzinho de Barros in Sorocaba city, state of Sao Paulo, in whose reptile house there lives very happily a very special golden lancehead snake.