Illinois
Illinois Has An Official State Snake And, No, It’s Not Governor Pritzker
(Observe: We have all seen these anti-Pritzker indicators round Illinois. That is not a political put up and the headline is solely for laughs.)
A number of weeks in the past, Illinois formally had named a state rock. Yeah, I mentioned, “Wait, what?”, out loud too after I came upon. The Land of Lincoln’s official state rock is Dolostone, which sounds just like the identify of an early-2000s indie band. You learn the why and the way right here.
Do you know solely 5 different states have an official snake?
- Arizona: Arizona ridge-nosed rattlesnake
- Massachusetts: Garter snake
- Ohio: Northern black racer
- Virginia: Japanese garter snake
- West Virginia: Timber rattlesnake
In line with WTTW, a seventh-grader, Gentry Heiple from Carterville Junior Excessive Faculty, is the coed behind the initiative to call Illinois’ state reptile. This was the identical circumstance for choosing Illinois’ state rock too however that concerned two college students from separate colleges.
Why we want a state snake is past me. You’re allowed to imagine I don’t take care of snakes as a result of I would like nothing to do with them. However, as talked about, lots of states have “official” reptiles, and some contain snakes. Very similar to Samuel L. Jackson, I am bored with snakes.
The official snake of Illinois is the Japanese Milksnake. They primarily stay within the higher third of Illinois, in keeping with the Illinois Division of Pure Sources.
This reptile lives in fields, woodlands, rocky hillsides and river bottoms. It hides beneath logs, rocks and boards.
These reptiles are brown with black stripes (or gray and white) and are anyplace from two ft to 43 inches lengthy. They’re smooooooth scaled with a V or Y-shaped mark on their head.
Illinois Division of Pure Sources
These snakes are recognized to shake quickly, hiss, and chunk at animals and people alike. Crucial query is perhaps are they toxic? The reply is not any. You may study extra about them right here.
[h/t WTTW]
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LOOK: Listed below are the pets banned in every state
As a result of the regulation of unique animals is left to states, some organizations, together with The Humane Society of the US, advocate for federal, standardized laws that will ban proudly owning giant cats, bears, primates, and huge toxic snakes as pets.
Learn on to see which pets are banned in your house state, in addition to throughout the nation.