In the coral snake mnemonic, which color pairing indicates a venomous snake?

• A. Red on Yellow
• B. Red on Black
• C. Yellow on Red
• D. Black on Red

Answer: (A)

The main idea is using color-band patterns to tell venomous coral snakes from non-venomous look-alikes. In the commonly taught US version, red touching yellow means venomous. That pairing is captured by the memory cue “red touch yellow, kill a fellow.” So when red and yellow are adjacent on the snake’s bands, it signals a venomous species. If red touches black, it refers to non-venomous mimics. Remember that this mnemonic helps ID in a familiar regional pattern, but color patterns can vary in other regions, so exercise caution with any unknown snake.