Celebrating Forty Years of the Endangered Species Act: Eastern Indigo Snake

Scientific Name: Drymarchon corais couperi

Year Listed on the Endangered Species List: 1978

Endangered Species Listing Status: Threatened

Conservation Efforts and Partners:

In one example, partnerships were formed with Auburn University, Zoo Atlanta, The Orianne Society, Georgia Department of Wildlife Resources, Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2009 to spearhead a captive breeding program. In 2011, captive Eastern Indigo snakes that had been reared at Zoo Atlanta were transferred to Auburn University for release into Alabama’s Conecuh National Forest.

Several other Association of Zoos and Aquariums accredited zoos are involved in captive breeding of Eastern Indigo Snakes and there is a formal AZA Animal Management Plan for the species as well.



Where Eastern Indigo Snakes Live:

Deserts, dunes, savannas, grasslands, forests and scrub forests in Florida, Alabama and Georgia.

What Eastern Indigo Snakes Eat:

Small mammals, frogs, lizards, fish, eggs, birds and other snakes.

How Long Eastern Indigo Snakes Live: 21 years

How We Can All Help Eastern Indigo Snakes:

Do not kill snakes just because they are snakes. Few snakes in the states where Eastern Indigo Snakes live are venomous. All snakes help control rodent populations.

Keep cats and dogs from roaming, as they may harass or kill wildlife.

Limit the use of pesticides.

Do not take a snake or any other animal from the wild unless you have been awarded the proper permits to do so.

Watch this video by the Cincinnati Zoo for lots of good information about the Eastern Indigo Snake: