Ekans is a Poison type Pokemon introduced in Generation I. It evolves into Arbok starting at level 22. Take a look below for 26 fun and interesting facts about Ekans.

1. Ekans is a purple, serpentine Pokemon.

2. Its eyes, underbelly, the thick stripe around its neck, and rattle are yellow.

3. Ekans has three pairs of black lines encircling its body, as well as another line that connects to each slit-pupiled eye and curves toward its nose.

4. Its large mouth has a round, pink tongue and no visible teeth.

5. While painful, a newborn Ekans’s bite is not venomous.

6. This Pokémon grows longer with age.

7. Ekans lives in grassy savannas and plains, where it moves stealthily through grass.

8. It can also be found in forests and desolate wastelands, where it preys on Eggs from Pidgey and Spearow nests, but will strike other prey from behind.

9. By flicking its tongue out, it is able to detect danger and the scent of prey.

10. Its jaw can detach to swallow large prey, but such a meal can make Ekans too heavy to move or become stuck and cause it to faint.

11. It wraps itself around tree branches at night to rest.

12. If not in a tree, it will coil itself up—a position in which it can defend itself from all directions.

13. It was also shown in the second movie to possess some swimming abilities.

14. Its former signature move is Glare.

15. In the Pokémon Red and Blue beta, Ekans was originally known as “Arbo”. This is, of course, its romanized Japanese name.

16. In early official art of Ekans, all of the bands on its body were yellow instead of just the one on its “neck”. This was changed in later art.

17. An Ekans was originally going to be featured in Pokémon Snap, as shown in an early test shot of an environment that was never featured in the final product. This is also true of its evolution, Arbok.

18. Ekans is one of fourteen Pokémon that one can collect foreign Pokédex entries for in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl.

19. Ekans and Goldeen have never been scanned with a Pokédex in the anime, despite having made their debut in the second episode, making them the Pokémon with the most episodes aired since their debut episode without them receiving a Pokédex entry.

20. Ekans appears to be based on a boa and rattlesnake, and its facial markings resemble an Indian cobra’s hood. However, its lack of teeth, ability to swallow large prey, preying on Pokémon Eggs, and reaction to threats are more akin to an egg-eating snake.

21. The yellow band around its neck may refer to the ring-necked snake.

22. Ekans and Arbok may also be inspired by the legendary basilisk since they were originally the only Pokémon to learn Glare.

23. The basilisk was said to be a poisonous, serpentine dragon that would kill people with its stare, which may explain Ekans’s place in the Dragon Egg Group.

24. Ekans is snake spelled backwards.

25. Jessie had an Ekans, which she received as a chūgen gift (a birthday gift in the dub) prior to the start of the anime. It debuted in Pokémon Emergency!, which also marked the species’ debut. It was extremely loyal to her and eventually evolved into an Arbok in Dig Those Diglett! just to make her happy.

26. Ekans was part of Team Meanies in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Team Go-Getters Out of the Gate!. Gengar commanded the Poisonous Snake Pokémon to eat all of the Berries Team Go-Getters collected. At one point, Ekans was incorrectly referred to as Arbok by Gengar. While this was an intentional error that Ekans rebuked in the original version (due to the similarities between the Japanese names), this came across as a general mistake in the dub and was corrected in reruns of the episode.