July 16 – World Snake Day.

World Snake Day is celebrated annually on July 16. The purpose of the day is to help people learn more about these reptiles and what they contribute to the animal world.

From time immemorial, the snake is one of the oldest mythical characters and is revered by civilizations around the world. A wide variety of images, both positive and negative, are attributed to it.

Snakes are highly specialized predators. They play a very important role in the balance of any ecosystem. Snakes have a wide variety of sizes – from pythons and boas that can reach up to 10 m to very small ones. Also, snakes have a wide variety of colors.

Today is a good occasion to talk about the general collection of snakes in our zoo.

The snake collection of Mykolaiv Zoo includes 19 species, of which 10 are pythons and boas, 9 are colubrid snakes; with a total of 62 individuals. There are no poisonous snakes in the collection of our zoo. To date, the oldest snake in Mykolaiv Zoo is the yellow anaconda (Eunectes notaeus), it is 18 years old.

You can see the collection of snakes of Mykolaiv Zoo in the winter room of the Aquaterrarium and Primates departments.