Chester zoo resident, 23, ‘back to her usual feisty self’ after electrochemotherapy for tumour in her jaw

A 15ft (4.5-metre) python is believed to be the first snake in the world to be given a pioneering, life-saving cancer treatment normally used on humans.

The 50kg reticulated python, named Jodie Foster after the Hollywood star, has just turned 23 and lives at Chester zoo. Keepers first became concerned that she may be unwell when she began eating less and spending more time inactive in her habitat.

Burmese pythons are an invasive species in the Everglades, and the challenge is part of initiative to remove them

The winner of this year’s annual Florida Python Challenge hunted down and eliminated 96 invasive Burmese pythons from the Everglades national park, as part of an initiative to remove hundreds of the snakes from the area every year.

The challenge invites hunters to participate in 10 days of capturing and humanely euthanizing as many of the invasive snakes as possible across eight designated hunting locations, with the winner taking home a cash prize of $10,000. The event is hosted by Florida fish, wildlife and conservation (FWC), the south Florida water management district, the National Park Service and others.

Local media in Hengzhou report king ratsnakes and cobras among hundreds in flood waters caused by typhoon Maysak

Hundreds of snakes, including cobras, have escaped from flooded breeding farms in southern China as severe storms continue to batter parts of the country.

State media reported that a snake farm in Hengzhou, in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, was hit by flood waters after days of heavy rainfall caused by typhoon Maysak, prompting warnings for nearby residents.

Pair of sick snakes discovered at club in County Durham presumed to have been dumped there by owner

For most golfers, the biggest hindrance they are likely to come across during a round is a strong gust of wind or getting their ball caught in a bunker. For golfers in County Durham, however, the obstacles players encountered were 2 metres long and covered in scales.

Two boa constrictors have been found on Blackwell Grange golf club in Darlington one week apart, with the first being found on 13 June during a children’s golf lesson when a 12-year-old girl’s shot landed directly on the snake.

The insatiable horseshoe whip snake has become an existential threat to the Ibiza wall lizard

Irrefutable proof of what Spanish researchers and wildlife experts had long suspected, and long feared, finally presented itself in the form of a grainy video that was shot on a minuscule island in the Balearics in April 2024.

Ribboning its way through the turquoise waters that separate the east coast of Ibiza from the islet of Santa Eulària 450 metres away, came a pale and solitary horseshoe whip snake in search of new territory and fresh sustenance.

Research led by WHO predicts hotter climate will lead to more contact between humans and venomous snakes

The risk of snakebites is increasing across the world as reptiles shift their habitats to cope with rising temperatures and growing human pressures, a study of venomous snakes has found.

Spitting cobras in Africa, vipers in Europe and South America, cottonmouth moccasins in North America and kraits in Asia are coming into greater contact with people as a result of climate disruption and landscape change, according to the research, which was led by the World Health Organization.

St Dominic, Tamar Valley: As spring progresses, the luminous beech foliage and thick cherry blossom have gone, and I find a grass snake sunning itself

Rain in early May has helped alleviate the dearth of April showers. Along narrow lanes, the drifts of bluebells, interspersed with cow parsley, campions and seeding stitchwort, are already overwhelmed by ferns. The succession of buckler, lady, hart’s-tongue, male, scaly male and soft shield – the latest to unfurl from its crozier-like fronds – will soon be topped by rampant bracken, now entwined in bryony.

Swags of hawthorn blossom overhang neglected uncut hedgerows, and landmark clumps of beech have lost that initial pellucidity of luminous foliage. Like linear stunted woods, the battered, regularly shorn deciduous growth on hedgebanks sprouts a diversity of greenery.

Man, 57, was watching snake-charming show when reptile crawled into his trousers, say German police

A German tourist has died after a snake crawled into his trousers and bit him as he watched a show in Egypt on a family holiday, police in Germany have said.

The 57-year-old man was watching the snake-charming show at a hotel in Hurghada, a popular beach holiday destination on the Red Sea, in early April.

Researchers find snake metabolite that suppresses appetite of obese mice ‘without some of side-effects’ of GLP-1 drugs

Pythons follow the ultimate crash diet, swallowing an antelope in a single sitting and then going for months without eating. Now scientists have identified a molecule that appears to be crucial for this metabolic feat, and which they say could pave the way for a new class of obesity drugs.

When the python metabolite, which spikes in their blood after eating, was given to obese mice, they shunned food and rapidly lost weight. The scientists said the molecule could have a similar effect to drugs such as Wegovy.

No species is a ‘villain’ – and even humans’ least favourite creatures are part of a web that makes all life possible

A wasp has just flown into your kitchen. Do you: a) scream and run away; b) roll up a magazine and try to bash it; or c) open a window and usher it outside? Now imagine it’s a bee – do you respond in the same way?

Our emotional responses towards the other animals on this planet are diverse, complicated and often irrational, and our contrasting perceptions of wasps and bees is a fantastic example. Bees are positively associated with honey, flowers and pollination, while wasps are negatively associated with stings, pain and annoyance – all this despite the fact that bees obviously can sting, while wasps are important pollinators, too. It’s the same for other animal pairs: sharks are mindless killers, while dolphins are paragons of benevolence; vultures are ugly and sinister, while eagles are majestic. I’m here to say that we’ve got them all wrong.

Jo Wimpenny is the author of Beauty of the Beasts: Rethinking Nature’s Least Loved Animals

‘I was told not to go to St Charles as it was too dangerous. I went and was struck by how free the kids are. They’re not afraid of the region’s rattlesnakes’

I visited the Appalachian mountains for the first time in my mid-20s, after deciding I needed to get away from my inner circle in Sweden to find my way into photography. I felt I had to be by myself, just responding to things happening around me and not thinking about my daily life.

America played a big part in my family history, and the Appalachians called to me in particular because at that time, around 2006, I’d been listening to a lot of bluegrass music. I wanted to get closer to people who lived in the place where it originated – music has always been a big inspiration for me. While driving in the mountains with no particular destination in mind, I met a social worker who told me: “Whatever you do, don’t go to St Charles.” She said something about it being too dangerous, which made me curious.