Clad in bright orange and red patterns, the corn snake is endemic to the Southeastern United States. In the wild, it lives in large fields, tall trees, forest openings, and abandoned or empty ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. More than 4,200 species of snakes exist on the planet and ...

In many animals, skin coloration and its patterns play a crucial role in camouflage, communication, or thermoregulation. In the corn snake, some morphs display red, yellow, or pink blotches, and their ...

As a graduate student at the Free University of Brussels nearly 20 years ago, Athanasia Tzika analyzed the genomes of several animals to better understand their diversity. During this time, the ...