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Where are the venomous snakes? An app by a Clemson scientist will tell you

VenomMaps is a database and web application for all 158 pit vipers living in North, Central and South America.

CLEMSON, S.C. — It's called "Venom Maps."

The web app, created by recent Clemson Ph.D. graduate Rhett Rautsaw, is designed to track venomous snakes. 

The site includes maps for all 158 pit viper species living in North, Central and South America. 

The site was developed for research but it is also available to the general public. 

The app uses scientific names — not common names — and shows ranges by country. 

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The map shows the area where each species lives, but that doesn’t mean each species lives in that entire range. 

For instance, some species will live in the mountains of a distribution range but not in lower elevations in that same geographic area.

South Carolina is home to nearly 40 species of snakes, but only six of them are venomous.  

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They include the copperhead, coral snake, cottonmouth and three species of rattlesnakes. 

The copperhead and the pigmy rattlesnakes are found through the state. 

The others are mostly found in the eastern parts of South Carolina. 

According to Clemson University, "Venomous snakes are found on every continent except Antarctica. Most medically significant species — those resulting in hospitalization, permanent injury or death to humans — fall into one of two families: vipers and elapids (cobras, mambas and their relatives). Venomous snakebites cause nearly 100,000 deaths and 400,000 disablements globally every year. "

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