Thirty-five kilometers south of the coastline of the Brazilian state of São Paulo, there is a paradise island with rich vegetation, steep cliffs surrounded by deep blue waters, and beautiful natural landscapes, but strangely uninhabited, not even migratory birds
The place we are talking about today is the island of Grand Kemada, also known as Snake Island, located in the eastern part of Brazil, which belongs to the tropical climate zone and covers an area of 430,000 square meters. The climate of the island is warm and humid, the average temperature of the year is about 25 degrees Celsius, the maximum temperature can reach more than 30 degrees Celsius, the summer is hot and rainy, mainly concentrated in the period from December to March, the winter is warm and rainless, due to the dense vegetation on the island, the ecological environment is good. However, this paradisiacal island is inhabited by a large number of deadly golden spearhead pit vipers (bothrops insularis), as long as people land on the island, there is no one who is not attacked by poisonous snakes, so as early as 1984, Brazil established this place as a nature reserve, and no one is allowed to enter the island without permission.
While there are about 45 species of bothrops in Central America, the golden spearhead viper, which is found only on the island of Grand Kemada, has four times more venom than the common spearhead viper, and is reported to account for 90% of snakebites in Brazil. The venom contains strong neurotoxins (affecting the nervous system), blood toxins (attacking the blood), snake venom (paralyzing muscles) and cytotoxins (destroying cells), and it is very painful after being bitten, and if it is not treated within an hour, it will die, and about 7% of people die every year because they are too late to be treated. Therefore, it is listed as one of the most dangerous snakes and islands in the world.
Why does this snake only live on the island of Grand Kemada, and what is the reason for it?According to historical records, about 110,000 years ago, due to the erosion of seawater and geological changes, the island of Grand Kemada was gradually separated from the mainland, so it provided a relatively closed ecological environment for the golden spearhead pit viper, so that it adapted to the special conditions of the island, and slowly formed a unique feature in the present place. The density of venomous snakes on the island is very high, almost one to five poisonous snakes per square meter, and according to this calculation, there should be more than 500,000 snakes. By the way, Grand Kemada Island is also home to another species of snake, the non-venomous Dipsas albifrons, though few people talk about it.
The nearest city to the island of Grand Kemada is the city of São Paulo, where before it was established as a nature reserve, there were many incidents of being bitten by snakes, according to the locals, earlier a fisherman landed on the island to pick bananas, and never returned, in addition to a lighthouse on the island, there were tower keepers before, one of the staff members was bitten to death by this snake, in the 20s of the last century, the lighthouse was automated, the Brazilian Navy only needs to land on the island every year to maintain, and the island is also a laboratory for scientific researchers, biologists and researchers who are granted special permission to visit the island can land on the island。
Due to scientific research and the needs of animal collectors, there are often some wildlife smugglers who sneak on the island to catch snakes, and a golden spearhead pit viper sells for as much as $10,000 to $30,000 on the black market, and the habitat of snakes has been degraded due to human activities, and some diseases have taken a serious toll on the island's snake population, and the number of golden spearhead pit vipers has decreased by nearly 50% in the past 15 years. In addition, the venom of the golden spearhead pit viper also contains BPFS peptides, which have the effect of lowering blood pressure, according to research, the snake venom has shown effects in heart disease, blood circulation and blood clots, and may also have anti-cancer effects, so the golden spearhead pit viper has been listed as a critically endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
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