Ilha de Queimada Grande, nicknamed Snake Island, is a 43,000 square metre piece of land off the southeastern corner of Brazil, at . It is home to a variation of the fer-de-lance snake, known as the Golden Lancehead (Bothrops insularis), with one of the most powerful venoms in the world; local legend claims that there are five snakes to every square metre. One current estimate places the actual figure at one snake per square metre. Plans to build a banana plantation on the island fizzled, and, for a long time, the island's only inhabitant was a lighthouse keeper. Currently, Brazilian naval regulations ban civilians from the island, though scientists sometimes receive waivers.
