A new venomous British snake? Why there’s no need to panic

By Wolfgang Wüster, Professor of Zoology, Bangor University

Great Britain has always been thought to be home to a single venomous snake species, the adder. Although its bites are rarely life-threatening, they will require a trip to A&E and more than likely ruin your week. On the other hand, the other two native British snakes, the grass and smooth snakes, have been largely considered non-venomous.

This status quo has been shaken by a new paper by herpetologists Alessandro Paterna and Grégoire Meier suggesting that the smooth snake should be reclassified as venomous.…

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