Ilha da Queimada Grande is a small Brazilian island with a terrible reputation. Have people died there? Sure. Was it painful? You better believe it. But what is it exactly that has people running from this paradise on Earth?
Bem-vindo ao Ilha da Queimada Grande.
Credit: @brunnofrejat / Instagram
Beautiful island, right? This is what pristine wilderness and beauty looks like.
This small island off the coast of Sao Paulo also has a deadly reputation.
Credit: @atokdean / Instagram
A very, very deadly reputation.
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The island is infested with an extremely poisonous snake: the golden lancehead viper.
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How poisonous? Its venom can kill a bird instantly. Oh, and it will also MELT human flesh.
Credit: Comedy Central / Reddit
If bitten by a golden lancehead viper, a human will die in less than an hour.
It’s cousin, the lancehead viper, lives on mainland Brazil and is responsible for 90 percent of snake bite-related deaths in the country.
Credit: Wikimedia
That number does not include the golden lancehead viper because they’re all chillin’ on that island.
And there’s thousands of them. The Brazilian navy has banned access to the island due to the number of snakes.
#Travelers off limits: it's forbidden to set foot on Ilha da Queimada a.k.a. #SnakeIsland near #SaoPaulo pic.twitter.com/UrwEL6mnWV
— DINKtravelers (@DINKtravelers) August 28, 2015
Credit: @DINKtravelers / Twitter
Mainly because the golden lancehead viper’s venom is 5 times more potent than its mainland cousin.
But that doesn’t mean people don’t go to the island. In fact, some people have to. A few brave souls do maintenance on a lighthouse.
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Yeah. There’s a damn lighthouse on an island deemed unsafe for humans.
Even though the lighthouse is now automated, things break down and need fixing.
Credit: Vice / YouTube
And these brave, brave men make the journey through the island to make sure the lighthouse keeps working. #madrespect
Something tells me not a lot of people sign up for that job.
Credit: Orphan Black / Temple Street Productions / helenaneedsahug / Tumblr
Who in their right mind would?
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So how did the snake take over an island? Simple.
Credit: NatGeoWild / YouTube
Experts believe that thousands of years ago, water levels rose high enough to create the island of Ilha da Queimada Grande, which isolated the snakes from the rest of Brazil. The snakes were then forced to evolve differently from the snakes on the mainland. With no prey available on land, the snakes slither up trees and kill migrating birds that stop on the island.
There are no other predators or competition on the island, so the snakes have the island all to themselves.
Credit: Vice / YouTube
Do your thing, dude. No one is here to bother you.
