Interesting snakes facts
September 3, 2009 | In: Animal facts for kids
By current classification, there are approximately 3,000 snake species on our planet.
All snakes are deaf to air born sounds but they do pick up vibrations in their jawbones and on their scent molecules on their tongue. These molecules are connected to the Jacobson’s Organ.
The largest snakes in the world are members of the family Boidae, which includes the boa and the python. Some members of this family never attain a length of more than 0.6 m (2 ft),but the largest may grow to more than 9 m (30 ft).
King Cobras eat almost all other snakes with the rat snake being it’s favorite.
Anacondas can grow in size from 25 to 40 feet in length.
The hognosed snake (Heterodon sp.), grass snake and the spitting cobra can feign death by flipping on to their backs when threatened. They open their mouths, allow their tongues to loll and can empty a foul smelling substance from their anal glands, making them highly unappetizing to any potential predator.
New Zealand has no snakes at all!
Snakes have no eyelids. Instead of eyelids, snakes have a transparent scale protecting their eye.
There are 400 species of venomous snake. 235 of them can’t kill you.
Pythons and boas are able to detect heat with their lip scales. These organs allow them to target warm-blooded prey in almost total darkness in the dense foliage of the jungle.
2 Responses to Interesting snakes facts
admin
July 26th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
When a female carpet python is incubating her eggs, she raises her body temperature by twitching her muscles, making her look like she is shivering and covered with goose bumps. Since pythons are cold-blooded, this muscular activity is necessary to generate enough warmth to incubate the eggs.
admin
July 29th, 2010 at 2:33 am
Most Poisonous Snake
The sea snake is considered to be the most poisonous known snake. Its venom is so strong that a single drop can kill three people! However, sea snakes are not aggressive to humans, and few people have died from their venom.
Sea snakes are found in tropical waters and are usually about three feet (1 m) long. Even though they live in the ocean, they are still air breathers, and thus must come to the surface from time to time. Most sea snakes can stay submerged for several hours; one species is capable of staying under for as long as eight hours!
Sea snakes can swim to depths of 150 feet (45 m). They feed on fish, eels, crabs, and cuttlefish. They spend most of their time swimming around coral reefs, mangrove swamps, or salt marshes looking for food.