Species group · Reptiles
Slow worms
WAnimals has 2 species of slow worm, all in the family Anguidae.
- 2 species
- 1 family
- 47 countries
- 113 parks
- Weight
- 20 g – 500 g
- Length
- 40 cm – 1.4 m
- Lifespan
- 20 – 30 years
Ranges calculated from the entries that record the figure, not from all 2.
All 2 species of slow worms on WAnimals
Each one has its own full entry. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.
Conservation status
No species documented in this group is genuinely at risk according to the IUCN, with the data available today.
See the global conservation statusWhere they live
Recorded in 47 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:
Where to see them
Did you know…
It is not a snake although it looks like one: it has movable eyelids and can blink, it has external ear openings and it keeps tiny vestiges of hind legs beside the cloaca, three features no snake has.
Its body is covered in stiff osteoderms, and a flexible groove along each side lets it expand in order to breathe and to digest large prey, which its armour would otherwise not allow.
It eats snails, shell and all, crushing them with blunt teeth and powerful jaws, and it also preys on eggs and rodents.
It is a legless lizard often mistaken for a snake, able to shed its tail to escape a predator as many other lizards do.
From Slow Worm