REAL- LIFE MONSTER ISLAND

I have a fear of snakes, so naturally I was horrified to learn about Snake Island in “The World’s Off-limits Places” (March issue). It sounds like something out of a movie, but there’s really an island off the coast of Brazil that teems with thousands of snakes! How big is it? And what else lives there?

Samantha Hartley

Snake Island is about 0.2 square miles, or around 125 acres. It does sound like a terrifying place, and fortunately no one has to live there since the lighthouse was automated in the 1920s. In addition to the venomous golden lancehead vipers that festoon the island, other inhabitants include insects like cockroaches and locusts. Also, various migratory birds stop to rest there (at their peril, of course).