It is said that in the past, Saint Patrick, the high priest of Ireland, used his miraculous powers to drive all the snakes of Ireland into the sea. While this is an impressive concept, nothing like this actually happened.
The fact is that there have never been any snakes in Ireland, and the reason that there are no snakes here is the same reason that there are no snakes in Hawaii, Iceland, New Zealand, Greenland or Antarctica.
In the distant past, Ireland was connected to a large landmass during the Ice-Age. As the climate was cold, the place was uninhabitable for cold-blooded reptiles.
After the end of the last ice age about 10,000 years ago, glaciers melted, separating Ireland from the landmass, and as the glaciers melted, more cold water filled the gap between Ireland and neighboring regions.
However, other animals such as wild boar, lynx (a type of cat), brown bear and even the common lizard managed to cross the distance to reach Ireland but unfortunately snakes missed the opportunity.
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