Reptiles

Find out everything there is to know about reptiles and stay updated on the latest reptile news with the comprehensive articles, interactive features and reptile pictures at LiveScience.com. Learn more about these fascinating creatures as scientists continue to make amazing discoveries about reptiles.

Related Topics: Amphibians, Snakes, Predators, Insects

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An adult copperhead snake, often found camouflaged among leaf litter.

Copperhead snakes: Facts, bites & babies

By Jessie Szalay, Ben Biggs published

Reference Copperhead snakes are common in North America, and have the distinction of biting more people in the United States than any other snake.

Close up of Galapagos giant tortoise in San Cristobal, Galapagos Island.

Scientists find species that don’t seem to age. What does it mean for humans?

By Stephanie Pappas published

Some species of turtles age very slowly or not at all, according to new studies of both captive and wild populations. How do they do it?

The albino tortoise next to its mother.

Tiny white tortoise baby is the 'first of its kind'

By Harry Baker published

The odds of an albino giant tortoise are 1 in 100,000.

Some of the bags of snakes and lizards the man hid among his clothing.

Man caught at Mexican border allegedly had more than 50 reptiles stuffed into his clothing

By Harry Baker published

U.S. border officers have caught an accused wildlife smuggler allegedly trying to cross from Tijuana to San Diego with nine snakes and 43 horned lizards stuffed into his clothes.

A reconstruction captures the last moments of life for an ornithopod in the jaws of a Cretaceous crocodilian.

'Killer' Cretaceous croc devoured a dinosaur as its last meal

By Mindy Weisberger published

The ancient reptile fossilized with a full belly.

The crocodile with a motorbike tire trapped around its neck pictured on July 1, 2021, in a river near Palu in Indonesia.

Indonesian crocodile finally freed from motorbike tire stuck around its neck for 6 years

By Harry Baker published

A crocodile in Indonesia has finally been freed from a motorbike tire that had been stuck around its neck for at least 6 years after a local man caught it in a handmade trap.

Striped mud turtles (Kinosternon baurii) are found throughout Florida.

Infamous 'Lizard King' of Florida nabbed in turtle heist

By Mindy Weisberger published

Federal prosecutors charged a man with illegally harvesting wild turtles to sell commercially, which is illegal in Florida.

A pair of albino alligator babies born at Wild Florida.

Eerie albino alligator babies hatched at Florida animal park

By Stephanie Pappas published

Two rare albino alligators have hatched at a Florida safari park.

A reconstruction of the quick-mouthed frog turtle (Sahonachelys mailakavava) preying upon tadpoles using specialized suction feeding.

Ancient turtle with a frog face sucked down its prey millions of years ago

By Harry Baker published

A newly discovered species of extinct ancient turtle uncovered in Madagascar is proof of convergent evolution of suction feeding in turtles.

A skull of the extinct horned crocodile from Madagascar (Voay robustus), which is part of the American Museum of Natural History's paleontology collection.

Mystery of extinct horned crocodile solved after 150 years

By Harry Baker published

Scientists have solved a 150-year-old mystery surrounding the classification of the extinct horned crocodile from Madagascar, giving it its own evolutionary group.

cold-stunned sea turtles were rescued and dry-docked near South Padre, Texas

Why thousands of turtles were paralyzed off the coast of Texas this week

By Cameron Duke published

Here's why thousands of sea turtles were paralyzed in the frigid waters along the Texas coastline during the unprecedented winter storm that swept across the country this week.

This Madagascar chameleon is the world's smallest reptile.

World's smallest reptile fits on your fingertip

By Brandon Specktor published

The Madagascar chameleon Brookesia nana measures half an inch long, and may be critically endangered. He also has huge genitals

The web-footed gecko (Pachydactylus rangei) from the Namib desert fluoresces neon-green along its flank and around the eye under strong UV light.

Desert geckos glow neon green in the moonlight, scientists discover

By Mindy Weisberger published

Special skin cells give desert geckos from Namibia a neon-green glow.

A close up shot of a crocodile eye

Ancient 'swamp king' monster croc once terrorized Australia

By Harry Baker published

The ‘swamp king’ was over 16 feet long and much broader than modern-day crocodiles.

When the female Voeltzkow's chameleon gets stressed, she displays a pattern of red dots and a streak of purple against a background of black and white.

'Lost' chameleon rediscovered after a century in hiding. And it's spectacular.

By Stephanie Pappas published

More than a century after it was last seen, a spectacularly colorful chameleon is back.

image of fossilized tetrapod tracks found in grand Canyon

313-million-year-old track marks found in Grand Canyon

By Diane Lincoln published

The 313-million-year-old tracks were left by a tetrapod.

Papa croc carries 100 babies on his back

Endangered croc gives piggyback ride to 100 babies after mating with '7 or 8 females'

By Brandon Specktor published

One of London's Wildlife Photographer of the Year honorees shows an endangered crocodile carrying 100 babies on his back

A Deinosuchus, an ancient crocodylian with banana-size teeth, lunges at an Albertosaurus dinosaur.

Cretaceous 'terror crocodile' crushed dinosaurs with banana-size teeth

By Mindy Weisberger published

New analysis of the ancient crocodylian Deinosuchus confirms that this apex predator had jaws and teeth that were powerful enough to subdue massive dinosaur prey.

The Triassic period beast Tanystropheus hydroides had a neck that was three times the length of its torso.

Weird 'broomstick' necked Triassic reptile named after mythical Greek sea monster

By Laura Geggel published

These strange, long-necked Triassic beasts were able to coexist because they chowed down on different prey.

The skull of the newly described ichthyosaur Cymbospondylus duelferi.

Triassic sea monster was about to birth three little monsters before she died

By Laura Geggel published

The ichthyosaur and her unborn babies lived about 246 million years ago.