Imagine a tropical island of rainforest so thickly populated with venomous snakes

that there's almost nowhere you can set a foot down without being bitten. Now you don't have to

imagine it because some say it's real and it's right off the coast of Brazil.

It's called Snake Island and the story goes that almost none who have

dared go there have come back alive. Snake Island is coming up right now on Skeptoid.

You're listening to Skeptoid.

I'm Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com.

Surviving Brazil's Snake Island.

Welcome to the show that separates fact from fiction,

science from pseudoscience, real history from fake history,

and helps us all make better life decisions by knowing what's real and what's not.

Its proper name is Eila de Kaimada Grunji, Island of the Great Forest Fire,

a name acquired long ago when people once tried to burn its jungles to clear land for a banana plantation.

But few call it by its official name.

To most, it's simply Snake Island, a small rocky isle about 33 kilometers off the coast of Brazil, not far from

so Paolo.

As you may be able to guess, its unofficial name comes from its best-known residence,

the world's only population of Golden Lancehead Pit Viper,

a snake whose venom is said to be one of the world's deadliest.

But more frightening than their venom is their sheer number,

by some estimates as many as one snake per square meter,

are found on the island.

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