By Ashley Thompson

 

There are over 3,000 species of snakes and every location on Naked and Afraid was bombarded with them. We have mentioned several times that it seems that snake is the only protein most of the contestants get, but we had no idea how prominent it actually was.

 

Here's how to cook it: Peel the skin, clean it, chop into strips. This way you can be sure the active nerves don't cause the body to slither out of the fire. Snake meat is very lean and can be tough if over cooked. (It should be noted that a snakes brain remains active after his head is severed... it can still eat and react to movement up to an hour after decapitation.) Commonly compared to chicken and places like China, Korea and Vietnam serve it in their traditional dishes. It is lower in cholesterol than pork or beef and considered to hold medicinal benefits.

Snakes procreate in high numbers. When copulating snakes use two penises with hooks that anchor them within the female. Snake sex can last a whole day. Talk about Kama Sutra.

 

Louisiana swamp is a snakes dream. The water moccasin or cottonmouth snake keeps its head above water while it swims.

 

Malaysia: The blue malaysian coral snake kills within 30 minutes. It uses it's tail to mimic the head and confuse enemies.

 

Amazon, Belize, Madagascar: boas (known to eat pigs, monkeys and deer) has a constricting pressure up to 25 psi. Can weigh over 100 lbs and has a 25-30 year life span. Males wrestle each other to win females.

 

Andros Island: bohemian boa kills by wrapping body around prey to suffocate then swallows it whole. It can also go up to four weeks between meals.

 

Fiji: coral sea snake is a close relative to black mamba and the most venomous in world. It can survive for 6 months without drinking water.

 

Nicaragua, Costa Rica: fer de lance - one bite has enough venom to kill 32 humans. 32!!!!!! It's jaw opens a whopping180 degrees! No thank you. Death can follow within 72 hours of a bite. It tracks prey with a heat detecting pit organ and is responsible for half of all venomous snake bites.

 

The executive producer scouted the location in Costa Rica and as he was crossing over fallen trees he was bitten on his left foot. Immediately his legs felt like jelly and were shaking. The team called in a helicopter and he was flown to San Jose hospital. 2 hours after being bitten the area had already started decaying but they were able to graph skin from his thigh onto his foot. A year and 5 surgeries later he is still recovering. Some animals have a natural immunity to snake bites but humans do not. A slender head with round pupil equals non-venomous while elliptical eyes with round head equals venomous. But don't get close enough to figure it out.

 

Photo courtesy of Discovery