Agkistrodon contortrix is a snake. Its common name is a copperhead. It is named so because the color of its head resembles copper. The copperhead is a venomous snake that bites many people each year. Although it is extremely dangerous if it bites a person, it is almost always not lethal.
The copperhead, like all organisms, is classified using the taxonomic key, which consists of the categories domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. The copperhead’s domain is Domain Eukarya. The copperhead is a member of this domain because it has nuclei in its cells. The copperhead is a part of Kingdom Animalia. This is because the copperhead is a eukaryote that is multicellular. It can move on its own, and must consume other…show more content… The females grow to be bigger than males, but the tail of a male copperhead is longer than that of a female. Newborn copperheads are usually 7 to 10 inches long. They are less than one ounce in weight when they are born. Copperheads have a head that is copper-colored and unmarked. Their bodies are reddish- brown in color and also resemble copper. Young copperheads are grayer than their adult counterparts. Young copperheads also have a tail that has a yellow tip that is the color of sulfur. As the copperheads age, however, the sulfur color fades, and is gone by the time the snake is three or four years old. Copperheads have multiple skin layers. There are three layers in all. One of those layers is the scales of the copperhead. Another one of those layers is responsible for the coloration of the copperhead. There is also an exterior layer of skin on the copperhead. This layer is clear. The copperhead molts its outer layer of skin, just as all other snakes do. While the copperhead molts, it is growing a new layer of skin to replace the skin it is molting. The first visible sign that the snake is molting is the skin over its eyes turns white in color. Then, the skin starts to peel, first at the snake’s mouth. Next, the snake wriggles out of its old, peeling skin. Because the copperhead has already grown a new layer of exterior skin, it does not have to grow a new one once it has finished molting. The scales of a copperhead are known as keeled, meaning that there is a ridge in the middle of every