Reptiles

Reptiles don’t like cold climates, and therefore they don’t like Canada. British Columbia [1] is home to just 17 of the world’s 10,000-odd reptile species. All 17 inhabit dry, hot valleys of grassland, such as the Okanagan Valley. The breakdown includes nine species of snakes, five turtles, two lizards, and one species of skink. The province’s only poisonous snake is the extremely rare western rattlesnake, which lives in the southern interior. Like other rattlers, it waits for prey rather than actively hunting and won’t bite unless provoked.