In my first post, I said that coral snakes are poisonous. This is not true, the word I was looking for was venomous! My favorite saying about it is that if an animal bites (or stings) you and you get sick, it's venomous. If you bite an animal and you get sick, it's poisonous. Speaking of sayings, the "red and yellow" saying is also not 100% accurate, especially outside of the US. The rhyme "Red touches yellow- you're a dead fellow, red touches black- you're okay jack," and other variants is used in some regions to help distinguish coral snakes from nonvenomous mimics. However, as some nonvenomous snakes have red stripes touching yellow stripes, and not all coral snakes have the typical red/yellow/black pattern (or even stripes at all), I wouldn't rely on it. I would personally vouch for the rhyme "Don't touch the snake, admire it from a distance. Do not touch the snake, or you might need medical assistance."
A nonvenomous false coral snake (Scaphiodontophis annulatus), pictured above. (Photo by Andrew DuBois on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/138578145@N04/32123300005/)
A venomous red-tailed coral snake (Micrurus mipartitus), pictured above. (Photo by Antonsrkn on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/26500525@N08/20145400272)
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