Ellen Brown, age 8, of Shreveport, La., for her question:

WHERE DOES THE WATER MOCCASIN LIVE?

The water moccasin is a poisonous snake that lives in the Southeastern part of the United States. You'll find water moccasins in the area south of a line running from Cape Charles, Va., to the middle of the Alabama Georgia boundary, then to southern Illinois and from there to a point where the Pecos River and the Rio Grande meet in Texas.

Water moccasins rarely leave this area.

The water moccasin is also called the moccasin snake or cottonmouth. It is a pit viper, like the rattlesnake. There's actually a hollow, or pit, in the side of its head.

Water moccasins grow to be about three and a half feet long although some may measure five feet. The body is usually banded in broad, dark olive stripes.

The snakes live along river banks and lake shores. The bite may be fatal.