Anyone know the scoop with St. Patrick ridding Ireland of snakes

[Pobeka]

I'm reading a book on the history of Ireland, and it made a brief mention about St. Patrick and the snakes, and I wondered if anyone knew:

1) Are there snakes on Ireland now?
2) If not, were there snakes at some previous time before St. Patrick died ~450 A.D.

Or, just what is the source of this legend?

[TXvote]

1. Snake is a metaphor

for druids. Chased 'em all out. Darn tootin. Not a one there now, nope.

[LuLu550]

2. I always took it as symbolic

but I could be wrong. Snakes = pagan, evil, sin and he brought Christianity, (good) and drove out the evil.

[Carni]

10. That's the way I read it also

Some holiday! :(

[Pobeka]

3. I wondered if the snake thing was symbolic

That makes sense to me.

But now, does anyone know if there really are snakes in Ireland? (No, not druids!)

[LuLu550]

4. got me!

any biology types out there with an answer?

[Journeyman]

5. There are no legless snakes on Ireland today. . .

Any snake species that had made their way to Ireland would not have survived the several times Ireland was covered in deep sheets of ice over the past 2,000,000 years. The last freeze ended only 15,000 years ago, by which time Ireland had become an island and snakes could not make their way to Ireland.


To read a brief and readable article on this topic, go to: www.txtwriter.com/Onscience/Articles/patsnakes.html

[Pobeka]

6. Thank you! n/t

[CatWoman]

7. can we hire him to get rid of bush?

:D

[Pobeka]

8. From the very little I read about him today, he'd do it if he could.

St. Patrick was captured in a raid when he was about 16, and taken to Ireland by his captor. He escaped and made his way to Europe, where he became a catholic priest. He eventually returned at his own request to Ireland to convert many to christianity, even his original captor.

[LuLu550]

9. even Jesus ... or should I say ESPECIALLY Jesus

would have a hard time with Bush and the right winger's brand of Christianity.

[Lisa]

11. apparently people have successfully introduced snakes to Ireland ...

... to check whether there was something in the soil that poisoned them. No kidding. (aside from the fictional Frederick Forsythe short story ...) An historian from Cork told me that ships headed for British colonies overseas in India or Africa used to stop in and pick up Irish soil as ballast, and sell it to expatriates who would sprinkle it around the edges of their property as a snake repellent! The ships would then sail back to England, loaded with loot. (Mostly stuff acquired there through other transactions, not just the soil, of course!)

Kind of a more benign version of "the triangle trade".


In general, snakes (and other reptiles) aren't that successful at crossing ocean barriers -- as was mentioned earlier. This is why so many Pacific islands have been snake-free until accidental introductions recently (e.g. the brown tree snake stowing away in US military cargo planes and ships). When the snakes do arrive, they decimate the local fauna because the creatures aren't used to predators ... several bird species on Guam are critically endangered because of this.

There's some speculation that part of Ireland (or the exposed continental shelf) might have been a "refugium" for species during the last ice age -- but if this was the case, and assuming that snakes had managed to make it to Ireland in the distant past when the isles were still connected to Europe, they didn't survive.

[Pobeka]

12. That's a bit of trivia I would have never guessed

My neighbor hates snakes, I'll have to get some of that Celtic soil for her!

[Lisa]

13. "depauperate fauna"

This phrase kind of conjures up weird images ... but it's the scientific term for environments which have fewer species than you'd expect based on their size or productivity. Many of them are islands ... maybe because of the isolation (difficult to get there), and the chances of going extinct are higher than on the mainland.

Only 3 native amphibian species in Ireland ... amphibians have it even worse than reptiles, in terms of being vulnerable to salt water! But maybe they managed to hang on during the ice age (they don't need as much in the way of food!)

http://www.ipcc.ie/irishamphibians.html


One native reptile, a rarely-seen lizard (probably hiding from people who want to emulate St. Patrick!)

http://www.ulsternet-ni.co.uk/outl3701/outpages/ONEWS.htm

[Pobeka]

14. Thanks for more cool links

This is great!