📸 PhotoPhoto: Peter Paplanus from St. Louis, Missouri · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Eastern Milksnake
Lampropeltis triangulum (Eastern Milksnake · ミルクヘビ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its maximum length of 175 cm is slightly taller than an adult human (Comparison).
- 💡 Animal Diversity Web notes that this snake benefits farmers by catching rodents that gather around barns and trash piles.
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The Eastern Milksnake is a brightly patterned, non-venomous snake with 25 subspecies, living widely from forest edges to farms and suburbs.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its body is grey or tan with a light Y- or V-shaped marking on the neck and, depending on the subspecies, black-bordered blotches in red, orange, yellow, or white. Juveniles are always brightly colored, becoming duller as they grow.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
Solitary and rarely seen by day, it is often spotted crossing roads at night. It eats voles, mice, rats, birds, eggs, lizards, and other snakes such as rattlesnakes, constricting prey to death before swallowing it whole.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2019) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/197493/2490171
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • catalogueoflife.org — 3S4WF
- • iucnredlist.org — 2490171
- • wikidata.org — Q1257513
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Eastern Milksnake (Lampropeltis triangulum) - Flickr -
- • animaldiversity.org — Lampropeltis triangulum
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Andy Wilson · CC0 1.0 (Congeneric silhouette — Lampropeltis californiae)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.