Now, we all laugh about the legend of Saint Patrick throwing the snakes out of Ireland.
But, as a true ophidiophobic, is it true that there is not a single snake found in Ireland, except for zoos? Not even in woods and swamps and fields with high grass?
Yes it’s true. There are no snakes. In fact the only reptile is the common lizard. Don’t know why but I doubt it was St. Patrick.
Looks like you would enjoy Hawaii for the same reason. But who wouldn’t enjoy Hawaii?
APRIL 1999 NATURE WISE
Q: Is it true that there are no snakes in Ireland?
A: Yes, it’s true. There are no snakes native to Ireland, though a few may have been introduced during the last few centuries. The snake-free zone is simply the result of Ireland’s separation from mainland Europe before snakes or their ancestors had a chance to migrate there. Snakes, unlike birds and flying insects, have a difficult time migrating to islands. For this reason, many islands besides Ireland lack native snakes. The Hawaiian islands are one example.
The above quoted from
http://www1.umn.edu/urelate/newsservice/usables/naturewise/
I just found out that apparantly Ireland was separated from the European mainland in the period following the last Ice Age. As a result the island has a smaller range of flora and fauna than is found elsewhere in Europe.
I knew it would have something to do with it being separated (obviously) at an early stage though the fact that it happened after the ice age explains the shortage of snakes.
Neat! Makes sense.
Neat! Makes sense.
There are snakes in Great Britain, though.
Hold on just a cotton-pickin’ minute here! The separation from the eurasian/african landmass can’t be the whole story. After all, Australia has snakes, and some pretty nasty ones, too. If it’s because Ireland was covered in ice pretty recently, why would the lizards have survived?
That does it-I’m movin’ to Ireland!
Both Ireland and Great Britain were covered by ice sheets during the last glaciation, making it pretty tough on snakes. As the ice sheets melted, sea level also rose. A few species of snakes were probably able to make it into Great Britain before it became isolated by rising seas, However, they evidently didn’t have enough time to reach Ireland before it was cut off.
It’s also possible a few species could have made it across the English Channel after it formed, but snakes are generally very bad at colonizing over water. Many islands besides Hawaii also lack snakes (e.g. New Zealand).
Australia has been suitable for snakes a lot longer than Ireland has. Some may have been there since the breakup of Gondwanaland, others may have been able to colonize due to the long period of time available.
As for lizards, they may have just been a little quicker off the mark in colonizing Ireland after it thawed. On the other hand, for some reason lizards do a lot better than snakes in colonizing over water.
Snakes evolved from lizards so maybe snakes hadn’t spread that far, weren’t as common, or just hadn’t appeared yet.
All you need to know about snakes and Ireland can be found here.
Snakes were a euphemism for pagans. So, did St. Pat drive the pagans out of Ireland?
Snakes evolved from lizards in the Mesozoic era (more than 65 million years ago), long long before the period we are talking about for Ireland (post Pleistocene, less than 12,000 years ago).
Snakes were symbolic of the devil, e.g. the Garden of Evil story. So yes, the St. Patrick story is symbolic of his victory over Satan/paganism/evil.
… that is, Garden of Eden story.
Just a note…I just got back from Hawaii and was pleasantly surprised to find out that they don’t have any snakes either. Not on any of the islands. Why can’t the mainland be so lucky?
Just for reference, visit the Dublin Zoo’s snake page at http://www.dublinzoo.ie/come_reptiles_python.htm
Yeah, yeah, there are no NATIVE snakes …
Irishcentric history. If you think Afrocentric history is a joke, read Irish Wisdom Preserved in the Bible and Pyramids (1923). It explains how the Irish built the pyramids, wrote the Bible and did pretty much everything that has ever been done. It puts down the Roman Catholic Church (which supplanted the true Irish Church which is older), the English (who made up a totally false history to make themselves look good) etc etc.
Wel, the link does not seem to work. It is “Irish Wisdom preserved in Bible and Pyramids” by Conor MacDari
More like he converted them.