Northern copperheads don’t really have to go in search of prey, though. Some snakes, including copperheads, also have heat sensors near their mouths or nostrils that help them locate warm-blooded prey in total darkness or dense foliage. Snakes flick their tongues in and out to “taste” the air, picking up scent trails of prey. Like all snakes, Northern copperheads rely on keen senses of taste-smell and sight to locate and catch prey. Like most snakes, they are naturally shy and unaggressive and would strike a person only if cornered or feeling extremely threatened. What’s more, copperheads aren’t really looking to bite humans. Their bite is enough to kill these small animals, but would rarely be fatal to a human. They feed on mice, birds, frogs, and insects such as cicadas. Northern copperheads are venomous, which means that they kill prey by biting and injecting venom. One reason for this is that small animals - their prey - also tend to be most active on rainy nights. They tend to be particularly active on humid, warm nights immediately during or after rain. They find shelter in or under fallen logs, leaf litter, and rock outcroppings. They may bask outside in the sunshine during the spring and fall when temperatures are moderate, but become nocturnal during the hotter months of summer in order to avoid midday heat. Northern copperheads are medium-sized snakes that brumate, which is very similar to hibernation but involves different metabolic processes and allows the animal to be mostly asleep but still capable of occasional activity, such as waking up to drink water, communally through the cold winter months, emerge in the spring, and then disperse. They seek shelter from both excessive heat and excessive cold. When it’s cold outside, snakes coil themselves tightly in order to retain heat. They bask in the sun to stay warm, stretching out fully, lying on or under rocks warmed by the sun, and spending nights on rock or pavement that hold heat after dark. They can not generate their own body heat and must regulate body temperature instead through warmth from the sun. Their only significant adaptive limitation is an inability to produce internal heat. Snakes have adapted to live in every environment on earth except polar. Check them out at the Maryland Zoo in the Cave, located in the Maryland Wilderness. Northern copperheads are one of three species and five subspecies of copperhead living in North America. Copperheads particularly like terrain with rocky outcroppings. In Maryland, they can be found in coastal areas, marshes, forests, fields, wooded slopes, and ravines from the Eastern Shore west to the Blue Ridge Mountains. Northern copperheads live in varying terrain along the east coast of the United States, from Massachusetts south to Georgia and Alabama and west to Illinois. Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion.
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