Eastern Milksnake

• GeneralIt copies the pattern of the coral snakes without being venomous; a popular vivarium animal.
• defensaIts bands of colour closely resemble those of the true venomous coral snakes, a case of defensive mimicry in an animal that is not venomous itself.
• Its name comes from a false superstition: farmers found it in their barns and believed it was suckling from the cows' udders, when in fact it was hunting the mice the grain attracted. No snake can suckle.
• Its resemblance to the venomous coral snakes is a classic case of Batesian mimicry: a harmless species copies the warning signal of a dangerous one and benefits from the fear it inspires.
• Its extremely wide distribution, from Canada to Ecuador, has led to what was a single species with dozens of subspecies being split into several separate species since 2013.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (reptile)

Habitat and environment

Woodland, grassland, farmland, barns and rocky ground of the Americas, from Canada to Ecuador

Sexual maturity

3 years

Gestation / incubation

60 days of incubation

Litter / clutch size

10 eggs

Sources consulted: Wikipedia (es): Lampropeltis triangulum