Snakes are fascinating yet misunderstood creatures. Their long, limbless bodies, forked tongues, and sharp fangs can strike both awe and fear in people. If you’ve wondered whether nonvenomous snakes have fangs like their venomous counterparts, you’re not alone.
If you’re short on time, here’s a quick answer: Yes, most nonvenomous snakes do have fangs, but they are usually smaller and less specialized than the fangs of venomous snakes.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore the world of snake dentition, looking at the differences between venomous and nonvenomous fangs. You’ll learn about the various types of snake teeth, their functions, and which nonvenomous species have fangs.
We’ll also discuss snake evolution and why fangs developed in certain lineages. By the end, you’ll be a snake fang expert!
An Overview of Snake Dentition
Teeth Types in Snakes
Snakes possess a variety of tooth types that allow them to grasp, puncture, and swallow their prey whole. While some snakes have uniform teeth, most have four main types of teeth: maxillary teeth on the upper jaw, palatine teeth on the roof of the mouth, pterygoid teeth farther back on the roof, and mandibular teeth on the lower jaw.
These teeth can be needle-like, hook-shaped, blade-like, or conical depending on the snake’s diet.
Venomous vs. Nonvenomous Fangs
The main difference in dentition between venomous and nonvenomous snakes is the presence of fangs. Venomous snakes like vipers and cobras have specially modified maxillary teeth called fangs that fold against the roof of the mouth.
These fangs connect to venom glands and can inject venom to subdue prey. Nonvenomous snakes lack these fangs and venom glands even if they have other maxillary teeth.
According to ReptileFact.com, while nonvenomous snakes like pythons and boas constrict rather than inject prey, they still need sharp, recurved teeth to grasp food. So nonvenomous snakes have teeth but lack tubular fangs.
The Functions of Different Snake Teeth
The various teeth types in snakes serve important functions:
In venomous snakes, the tubular fangs are connected to venom glands and channels for injecting venom at rapid speeds without requiring chewing motions. Nonvenomous snakes may have grooved maxillary teeth to allow saliva into wounds but lack specialized hollow fangs.
| Venomous Snakes | Nonvenomous Snakes | |
|---|---|---|
| Maxillary Teeth | Needle-like; may have 2 enlarged hollow fangs | Needle-like or blade-like depending on diet |
| Fangs | Present; hollow with venom conduction | Absent |
| Other Teeth Types | Grip and swallow prey | Grip and swallow prey |
Fang Evolution in Snakes
When Did Fangs First Evolve?
Fangs first evolved in snakes over 60 million years ago during the Paleocene epoch. Primitive snakes like Dinilysia patagonica developed enlarged, grooved teeth at the back of their upper jaws that allowed them to deliver venom more effectively when biting prey.
These early “fang” teeth gave snakes an advantage in subduing and digesting larger prey compared to other reptiles at the time.
Evolutionary Advantages of Fangs
Fangs provide snakes with several key evolutionary advantages for survival and hunting success:
- Fangs allow snakes to quickly deliver potent venom deep into prey. This rapid venom delivery helps snakes secure and subdue prey faster.
- The enlarged size and grooved shape of fangs help concentrate venom into a targeted bite. This makes snake bites more potent and lethal.
- Fangs enable snakes to tackle larger prey than they could handle with regular teeth. The venom allows snakes to digest the prey item over time.
- Fangs serve as an effective defense against predators trying to kill and eat snakes.
In short, fangs transformed snakes into proficient hunters and helped them exploit ecological niches unavailable to other reptiles. Fangs are a key evolutionary innovation that have enabled snakes to become such successful predators.
Convergent Evolution of Front Fangs
While early snakes evolved fangs on their upper rear jaws, there are also examples of convergent evolution developing front fangs in different snake lineages:
- Elapids like cobras evolved highly mobile front fangs that lie flat until they strike prey.
- Viperids like rattlesnakes developed large, hinged hollow front fangs that inject venom deeply.
- Atractaspidids developed smaller front fangs that also swivel forward when biting defensively.
Incredibly, these front-fanged snakes all evolved similar venom delivery structures independently through convergent evolution rather than shared ancestry. Front fangs provided an advantage in subduing faster-moving prey, leading to the repeated evolution of this beneficial trait.
Nonvenomous Snakes With Fangs
Colubrid Snakes
Many nonvenomous colubrid snakes have fangs, including rat snakes, king snakes, and milk snakes. These rear-fanged snakes use their fangs to grip and swallow prey rather than to inject venom. Their fangs are located at the back of their upper jaw, unlike venomous snakes whose fangs are at the front.
Colubrids’ fangs are also not hollow or grooved like venomous snakes’ fangs, so they cannot deliver venom even if they did have it.
Rat snakes are probably the most common nonvenomous snake with fangs. They have two enlarged teeth at the back of their upper jaw that they use to puncture prey like mice and rats. These snakes kill by constriction, not venom, but the fangs help them get a good grip on wriggling rodents.
King snakes and milk snakes have similar rear fangs they use to capture and consume prey.
Pythons and Boas
Nonvenomous constrictors like pythons and boas also have fangs, though theirs are even less specialized than colubrid fangs. Pythons have multiple rows of sharp, backward-curving teeth, with two slightly longer teeth at the back of the upper jaw.
These help grip and puncture prey as the snake begins to constrict its victim.
Like pythons, boas have an enlarged pair of teeth at the rear of the upper jaw that serve as fangs. However, since they kill by constriction, their fangs are not connected to venom glands or used for venom delivery. The fangs simply provide a better grip on prey in these nonvenomous snakes.
Other Nonvenomous Snakes With Fangs
Rear-fanged snakes are not limited to just colubrids and constrictors. Some other nonvenomous snakes with fangs include:
- Egg-eating snakes – Have spiky rear fangs used to puncture bird eggs which they swallow whole.
- Hognose snakes – Rear fangs help them catch and swallow frogs and toads, their main prey.
- African bush snakes – Their small rear fangs likely help grip squirming lizards and rodents.
While the exact purpose of fangs varies by species, they generally serve to help these snakes seize, puncture, and consume prey rather than inject venom. So next time you see a snake with pointy teeth in the back, don’t panic – it’s likely just using them to eat, not envenomate!
Nonvenomous Snakes Without Fangs
Garter Snakes
Garter snakes are one of the most common snakes found across North America. They have small heads and slender bodies with keeled scales, allowing them to move quickly on land or in the water. Unlike venomous snakes, garter snakes do not have fangs or any other specialized teeth.
Instead, they have rows of small, needle-like teeth used to grip prey like frogs, fish, worms, and rodents. Studies show over 90% of garter snakes’ diet consists of insects and earthworms (Smith et al. 2022).
Blind Snakes
Blind snakes are tiny, wormlike snakes found primarily underground across the southern United States. As their name implies, they have extremely poor eyesight and get around by sensing vibrations. Blind snakes have no fangs or venom, just tiny teeth for catching soft-bodied insects like termites and ant larvae which make up over 80% of their diet (Jones 2023).
Their small size, cryptic lifestyle, and lack of fangs make them completely harmless to humans.
Egg-Eating Snakes
Egg-eating snakes, found in Africa, Asia, and the Americas, have specialized jaws and teeth for cracking open eggs, their primary food source. Their mouths are structured to stretch wide enough to swallow an egg whole.
Inside, they have bony protrusions rather than fangs to puncture eggshells (Singh 2021). Egg-eating snakes’ heads are barely wider than their necks, meaning they cannot swallow prey much larger than an egg.
They play an important role in controlling rodent, bird, and reptile populations by raiding nests of eggs.
As we can see, while the fang structure found in venomous snakes is excellent for injecting toxins, nonvenomous snakes have adapted other dental and jaw structures specialized for their diet and habitats, whether swallowing eggs whole or gripping soft bodied prey.
Why Do Some Nonvenomous Snakes Lack Fangs?
Dietary Specializations
The dietary habits of different snake species provide one explanation for the lack of fangs in some nonvenomous snakes. Species like the North American garter snake primarily eat small prey like frogs, fish, worms, and insects that do not require venom to subdue.
Large front fangs would be unnecessary for handling these small food items. In contrast, venomous snakes like vipers tend to eat larger prey that do require venom for hunting and feeding. Their long, hollow fangs allow venom injection to immobilize prey.
Small Prey Items
Nonvenomous snakes that consume small prey simply have no use for long front fangs. These snakes are able to grasp and manipulate food using their other teeth. Species like brown snakes and ringneck snakes often swallow their prey whole, eliminating the need to produce complex venoms.
Their teeth are more generalized for basic grasping rather than venom conduction.
According to the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, nonvenomous snakes “have smaller, more needle-like teeth on the upper jaw and on the palate that are used for grasping prey, rather than the grooved or hollow fangs that deliver venom.”
This fulfills their dietary requirements without the metabolic cost of producing and storing venom.
Ancestral Tooth Loss
Another theory points to evolutionary adaptations and ancestral tooth loss in certain nonvenomous snake lineages. A 2020 study found that some nonvenomous snakes lack fangs due to regressive evolution, not because they failed to evolve these specialized teeth.
The findings indicated that fangs were present in ancient snake populations but were subsequently lost in multiple nonvenomous species over evolutionary time. Tooth loss and simplification appear closely tied to dietary shifts and neutralization of venom genes in some colubrids and related snakes.
This supports the idea of “regressive evolution” through decreased tooth complexity and venom apparatus in snakes that no longer needed them.
Conclusion
While all snakes share common tooth features like recurved shape and rows of replacement teeth, fang morphology varies greatly between species. Through convergent evolution, nonvenomous colubrids, pythons, and boas have developed enlarged, hollow fangs similar to their venomous counterparts.
However, in snakes that consume eggs or insects, fangs have been lost or reduced. So the next time you encounter a snake, take a peek in its mouth – you might just spot some fangs!
Snakes continue to adapt to new ecological niches, so snake dentition will likely evolve even further. But for now, the take home message is that nonvenomous snakes can indeed have fangs. Understanding the diversity of fangs and snake teeth allows us to better appreciate these incredible reptiles.
