Characteristics of a snake
A snake has been on earth for more than 130 million years. Without limbs, it can climb, swim, and sometimes fly. Some have a deadly bite that can kill a human. In religion, it was the animal that tempted Adam and Eve.
Of the 2,700 known species, each share three common traits. He has a slim, linear body without limbs, eats meat, and is cold-blooded. Your organs are linear in your body with your brain and sense organs in your head. You have an inner ear that detects the sound of sound waves hitting your skin. Cannot detect colors but can see images. Some have pit organs that can detect heat sources used for night hunting for hot, bloody animals. Has no sense of taste but can smell odors. When you move your tongue, it collects air particles to help detect odors.
It reaches lengths from 4 inches to 30 feet with hundreds of vertebrae that make it very flexible. Its skin is elastic covered with scales. You will shed your skin many times during your life. It reaches maturity from 1 to 9 years and can live from 4 years to more than 25 years.
It moves using ventral scales on its underside that grip the ground and move it forward. It has four basic movements. Serpentine used by most snakes on land and water, where it contracts its muscles in curves from side to side and uses its scales to propel itself forward. Sidewinding, a variation of the serpentine where it uses only two points of contact with the ground. Caterpillar where the curves are up and down and above the ground. Concertina used for climbing, where the ventral scales grab the surface and leap forward to regroup the surface.
It has an expandable jaw and can swallow prey larger than itself. He drenches his prey in saliva and crushes it with his muscles. Some snakes inject venom into their prey using their fangs to subdue it.
The poisonous types that make up 20% of all snakes have 2 hollowed out front teeth called fangs to allow venom to pass through. The poison contains one of the three toxins. Neurotoxin that takes over the nerve centers and stops breathing. Cardiotoxin that attacks the heart causing it to stop. Hemotoxin that causes blood vessels to break. Other snakes squeeze their prey by applying pressure of up to 12 pounds per square inch, causing the lungs and heart to stop working.
It has been found in mythology and popular culture. It has appeared in books and movies. “Snakes on a Plane” and “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark” have described it as an animal to fear. It has also been used as a symbol of evil societies. In gardening and agriculture, it plays an important role in insect control.