About 20 miles off the southeastern coast of Brazil, there is an island.

It's beautiful, it's lush, it's mountainous.

It's almost completely empty of people.

Very, very, very few people have ever even set foot on this island.

The island's name is Iha de Chiamada Grande,

and it's pretty famous.

But around the world, the island is mostly known by a nickname,

a nickname which explains the real lack of human activity.

It is called Snake Island. It is one of the most snake of human activity. It is called Snake Island.

It is one of the most snake-filled places in the world.

This tiny little island, one-fifth of a square mile, is home to about 3,000 golden lancehead vipers.

The snakes can grow four feet in length, and they're one of the most venomous snake species in the entire Western Hemisphere.

A golden lancehead snake bite will cause internal bleeding, kidney failure, necrosis of muscle tissue, brain hemorrhage, and death.

So what do you say?

You want to take a trip?

I'm Dylan Thuris, and this is Atlas of Skira.

A celebration of the world's strange, incredible, and wondrous places.

Today, we meet a researcher who has been to the island more times than the cheek and count

to see a snake island really lives up to its reputation.

More after this.

Music More after this. I remember that when I was a child. I remember that when I was a child, I remember watching something on TV, but it was like those, I don't know, like horrible things like, oh, the worst place in the world.

That's Karina Bonsi. She is a biologist who works specifically with the natural history and behavior of snakes.

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