Name: There Are No Snakes in Hawaii Except for the Few That Help the State
Uploaded: 2020-03-06T20:31:54.000Z
Duration: 8 min 51 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

And I thought The Aloha State couldn’t be any more perfect!

But all you ophidiophobes (that’s the fear of snakes), don’t do your happy dance just

Technically, there are no native snakes… on land.

But there is a local species in Hawaiian waters, and it’s one of the most venomous out there!

Bright yellow and black, Hawaii’s Yellow-Bellied Sea Snake measures about 30 inches long and

It’s a relative of the cobra, and its venom is extremely potent.

Although it might not hurt that much if it bites and you’ll probably just experience

a little swelling, experts warn that you shouldn’t shrug it off.

Bites from the Yellow-Bellied Sea Snake are so rare that the Waikiki Aquarium couldn’t

find even one report of anybody in Hawaii being bitten by one.

And Old Yellow Belly will never bite you on land because, while some sea snakes enjoy

the occasional jaunt out of the water, this one is strictly non-terrestrial.

That means he simply can’t come on land.

His belly is so big and tapered that he can’t slither on the ground!

They might thrash and wiggle to get somewhere, but their bodies are designed for swimming,

But why are there no native land species?

That is, snakes that originate from the Hawaiian Islands – born and bred, if you will.

It’s an Archipelago (or a group of islands), and it’s a really isolated one.

Anywhere from 2,500 to 5,000 miles of ocean separate Hawaii’s islands from the nearest

That’s too far for most animals to travel.

Even the best swimmers can’t swim that far.

This helps explain why Hawaii has such a wonderful variety of birds—about 50 known species.

Unlike snakes, their ancestors could fly!

Once they got to Hawaii, there was no one waiting to gobble them up.

Snakes have such an appetite for birds and their eggs that they threaten avian populations

That’s why Hawaiians are incredibly vigilant about keeping out any snakes who try to visit.

Local authorities work hard to capture the ones that’ve somehow made their way into

And they strongly discourage people from bringing them by making it illegal and heavily enforced!

It’s easy to understand why a snake would want to come to Hawaii: warm sun, beautiful

beaches, all those birds to eat (not to mention frogs and insects—other snake delicacies.

But these legless reptiles need help getting there.

Since they can’t swim, they hitch a ride on a boat… or a plane!

That, and some people bring them intentionally!

But why would anybody bring one to Hawaii, especially when they threaten the birds and

Well, some people don’t know any better.

Others might hope that they’ll eat the pesky insects in their gardens— in fact, there’s

a snake in Hawaii that does just that, but we’ll meet him a little later.

And, of course, you always have those knuckleheads who just wanna break the rules.

If only they’d consider how crucial it is to keep snakes out of Hawaii!

Take Guam as an example – invasive snakes devasted the bird population, eating up as

many as 10 of the 12 known avian species there.

It’s heartbreaking, but Guam is working hard to help their birds recover.

But sometimes the person who brought the snake isn’t a criminal – it can happen by accident.

In June of 2019, a 20-year-old man hopped on a plane in Florida and headed to Pukalani,

a nice spot on Hawaii’s island of Maui.

What he didn’t know was that, along with his toothbrush and swimming trunks, his backpack

held a secret hitchhiker: a non-venomous southern black racer!

Well, sometime before take-off, this baby—she was a newborn and only about 6 inches long—slithered

The stowaway lay low all through the airport security screening and actually made it through

Then, once she boarded, she kept quiet all through the flight.

No one would’ve ever known about this snake’s journey.

She would’ve grown up to 6 feet in length and probably would’ve filled her gullet

…Had it not been for the observant Hawaiian who owned the place where the man was staying.

When the tourist reached Pukalani, the owner of his vacation rental spotted the baby snake

as she slithered out of the backpack to make her escape.

He called the police, who then alerted The Department of Native Ecosystem Protection

And together, they detained the snake overnight.

Until she could be transported to Honolulu (and booked!).

Ok, that was an accident, but what do you do if you live in Hawaii and your Uncle Joe

(He never was that great at gift-giving!)

You don’t want your uncle to get in trouble for his ill-advised present, but you also

don’t want your birthday gift slithering around eating all the tropical birds!

Plus, you kinda like the scaly little guy.

There’s no way you’re flushing your friend down the toilet (don’t even think about

it!), but you’re worried how he’ll be treated if you turn him in.

Snakes are banned in Hawaii – you don’t wanna see Slim in handcuffs—he doesn’t

Subtitles ListPlay Video

There Are No Snakes in Hawaii Except for the Few That Help the State

deliberately

native

kinda

appetite