Useful and interesting facts about snakes

About such mysterious and mysterious beings as snakes, people from different parts of the world created a lot of myths and legends. But if for some people the snake is an object of worship and deification, symbolizing strength, wisdom, renewal, others are afraid of these hissing and creeping animals. This article will tell you unusual and interesting facts about snakes.

Giants of the Serpentine World

Today on our planet there are more than 3000 species of snakes, and about 1000 of them are poisonous. The size of these animals can be very diverse. So, in Indonesia in the west of the island of Sumatra was caught the largest to date python, whose length is almost 15 meters.

Following the boa constrictor is an anaconda with a length of 5 to 6 meters, although there are specimens and more than 9 meters. Throughout the centuries, South Americans scared their children and made legends about snakes covered with staggered brown stains and living in lakes and quiet river harbors. Previously, the anaconda was also called a water boa, which in fact does not contradict the truth: this snake really belongs to the subfamily of boas, and indeed it really loves water.

The following interesting facts about snakes concern poisonous species, the longest among them is the royal cobra, whose body length can reach 6 meters.

But in the territory of the former USSR the largest representative of reptiles is a gyurza from the family of vipers. It can grow up to two meters long and up to 3 kg in weight.

A snake or a worm?

The smallest snake, the narrow-necked two-line (Leptotyphlops bilineata), dwells on such islands of the Caribbean as Martinique, Santa Lucia, Barbados, and rarely exceeds 10 cm long. Another miniature reptile representative is the Brahmin (Typhlops braminus), or pottery Snake, belongs to the family of blindness. Interesting facts about snakes of this family are that they are actually blind, since their eyes are practically undeveloped and covered with skin. In addition, blind people prefer to live in ordinary flower pots, exhibited in warm weather on the street or in the garden. The snake inhabits South Asia, the islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and along with flower pots, it has migrated to the Hawaiian Islands, Madagascar and Mexico.

Unusual facts about snake skeletons

Modern scientists know practically everything about snakes, but they do not cease to be surprised by the peculiarity of the structure of their skeleton. Unlike all other animals, reptiles have no limbs. Only the largest specimens of boas can be found rudimentary remnants of pelvic bones and hind limbs. Directly to the skull is attached the trunk, while there is no difference, except in size, between the vertebrae of all five divisions. The total number of vertebrae can be from 200 to 400. The number of ribs in snakes can reach up to 200, and with the vertebrae of the skeleton they are connected by a system of ligaments and elastic muscles.

Features of anatomy

No less interesting facts about snakes are revealed when we begin to study the structure of their internal organs. So, the kidneys of these reptiles are not located on the right and left, but as if one after another - in front and behind. But the snake's heart can move far enough relative to its original position, which facilitates the normal passage of swallowed food through the intestines.

Another, quite unexpected, truth about snakes: they are deaf in our understanding of this word, as the eardrum and middle ear are completely atrophied. Touching the belly with the ground, these reptiles catch the body various vibrations and vibrations, including sound.

Instead of mobile in snakes fused with each other and transparent, like solid lenses, the eyelids. It is they who protect the snake's eyes from various injuries while moving or hunting.

When attacking, the snake's mouth can open 180 ^degrees . The upper jaw of these reptiles is equipped with two rows, and the lower one with one row of teeth. Throughout life, all of them, including fangs, change. The longest teeth are the African Gabonese adder: they can grow to 3 cm.

How do they hunt?

Of course, we will not be able to tell everything about snakes in the framework of one article, but here we will dwell on the ways of hunting them separately.

The methods of hunting depend on the species to which the reptile belongs. Poisonous animals prefer to wait for their prey in ambush and, by exact and quick blow, kill the victim. If the snake missed, then the prospective dinner, she will not pursue for long - 1-3 meters, after which she again stands motionless in anticipation. But vipers for all their virulence are not always sitting in ambush: these snakes can overcome considerable distances in search of prey. The sandy ephah and Pallas shtomurtnik can make their way into the burrows of rodents and eat their prey right there, although they also use ambush hunting.

Those who do not have poison simply hold their captured victims and swallow them or use strangulation techniques. The snakes swallow the prey alive, but the pythons and boas kill the prey, wrapping around her body and gradually increasing the compression force of the rings, until she dies of suffocation. According to the hunting time, snakes are divided into:

• Day time;
• Twilight;
• Night.

Sea Snakes

These reptiles live mainly in the tropical warm waters of the western Pacific region. Between Borneo and Singapore, there are 27 species of various sea snakes. In the Australian coastal waters about 21, and in the Great Barrier Reef - 14 species of these marine reptiles. In total there are about 70 species of marine reptiles.

The most interesting thing about snakes living in the sea, is that, with the exception of scallops, they are all poisonous and can cause serious harm to human health. Turtle-shaped sea snakes do not pose a threat to humans because they feed on fish caviar. Under the influence of such a diet, their teeth were transformed into a single plate, due to which they become like tortoises. They can not produce poison, and they do not even have teeth to inject it.