Overview
Kirtland’s Snake (Clonophis kirtlandii) is one of the rarest, most secretive, and most vulnerable colubrid snakes in North America. Endemic to the historic prairie wetland belt of the Midwest, this shy, docile serpent features a modest, keeled grey-brown dorsal pattern that conceals an astonishing secret: a brilliant, glowing coral-red or flame-pink underbelly framed by double rows of neat black dots.
Biology and Physical Characteristics
Clonophis kirtlandii has a stout, heavy-bodied build with strongly keeled dorsal scales and a small, rounded head that is barely wider than its neck. The dorsal surface is grey, reddish-brown, or dark slate, patterned with four rows of alternating dark, rounded blotches. The ventral surface is its most magnificent attribute: an intense, incandescent salmon-pink to crimson-red belly bordered on each side by a crisp line of black spots.
Behavior and Ecology
An obligate inhabitant of wet meadows, Kirtland’s Snake relies intimately on burrowing chimney crayfish. Incapable of digging deep tunnels itself, it inhabits the subterranean watery burrows excavated by freshwater crayfish, using them for thermal shelter, winter hibernation, and hunting earthworms and leeches. When threatened, rather than striking or biting, it flattens its body completely rigid against the ground to blend into grass thatch.
Conservation and Human Impact
Assessed as Near Threatened by the IUCN and state-listed as endangered or threatened across virtually all states within its range, Kirtland’s Snake has suffered catastrophic historical declines due to the wholesale tile-draining of Midwestern wet prairies for corn and soybean agriculture. Thriving remnant populations cling to urban parklands and flood retention basins around Chicago and Indianapolis.
Interesting Factoid
Kirtland’s Snake is a subterranean squatter: it relies entirely on burrowing crayfish to build its underground homes, spending almost its entire life living inside water-filled crayfish tunnels beneath wet prairie meadows.