Queimada Grande trivia | 40 facts about the “snake island”

One of the most dangerous places in the whole world is a really beautiful island: the famous Queimada Grande Island.

The island’s name is Ilha da Queimada Grande.
It is located off the coast of Brazil in the Atlantic Ocean
It is also known as Snake Island.
It is administered as part of the municipality of Itanhaém in the State of São Paulo.
It’s a small island is small of only 43 hectares (106 acres).
The island ranges in elevation from sea level to 206 metres (676 ft) above sea level.
The island has a temperate climate that. 0.25 square kilometres (62 acres) of the island is covered by rain forest.
The remaining areas consist of barren rocks and open grassland.
Queimada Grande ranges from an average of 18.38 °C (65.08 °F) in August to 27.28 °C (81.10 °F) in March.
Rainfall ranges from 0.2 millimetres (0.0079 in) per month in July to 135.2 millimetres (5.32 in) in December.
It has a temperate climate.
Its climate is similar to its neighbouring island Nimer
The island’s terrain varies considerably, ranging from bare rock to rainforest.
It is the only home of the critically endangered, venomous Bothrops insularis (golden lancehead pit viper), which has a diet of birds.
The snakes became trapped on the island when rising sea levels covered up the land that connected it to the mainland.
The ensuing selection pressure allowed the snakes to adapt to their new environment.
This led into increasing rapidly the snakes’ population.
This is why the island is dangerous and it is forbidden for public visitation.
Queimada Grande is closed to the public in order to protect both people and the snake population.
Access is only available to the Brazilian Navy.
Along with the Brazilian Navy selected researchers vetted by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation, the Brazilian federal conservation unit.
The island is partly covered in rainforest and partly bare rock and grassy cleared areas, a result of deforestation.
The deforestation is the origin of the island’s name: the term “Queimada”.
“Queimada” in Portuguese, means “burnt”.
This name came from the fact that locals attempted to clear land for a banana plantation on the island, but they had to clear rain forest by burning it.
A lighthouse was constructed in 1909 to steer ships away from the island.
The last human inhabitants left the island when the lighthouse was automated.
The island and the Ilha Queimada Pequena to the west are protected by the 33 hectares (82 acres) Ilhas Queimada Pequena e Queimada Grande Area of Relevant Ecological Interest.
It was created in 1985.
According to some assumptions it’s one snake to every square meter (10.8 square feet) of the island.
Despite a population of 41 recorded bird species on Queimada Grande, the golden lancehead relies on only two: the Troglodytes musculus (the southern house wren), which is usually able to avoid the golden lancehead as a predator, and the Chilean elaenia (a species of flycatcher), which feeds on vegetation in the same area as the snake.
The island was thought to have a population of about 430,000 snakes.
But according to recent estimates snakes are much lower.
The first systematic study of the population of the golden lancehead found the population to be 2,000 to 4,000/
They were not spread in the whole island, but concentrated almost entirely in the rainforest area of the island.
This might have happened because there was a limited amount of resources and the population became level.
In 2015 an estimate by a herpetologist on a Discovery Channel documentary stated that the population remains at 2,000 to 4,000 golden lanceheads.
The Bothrops insularis also may be at risk from inbreeding, effects of which are evident in the population.
Because of the overall low population of the golden lancehead, the snake was labelled critically endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
It also was placed on the list of Brazil’s endangered animals. The island is also home to a smaller population of Dipsas albifrons, a non-venomous snake species.