Snakes

One of the most feared animals in the world by humans is the snake. It is an animal that inspires fear due to the poison of some species. Throughout history they have been acquiring a bad reputation because there are some species with a poison that can be fatal. They were animals that originated during the Cretaceous period and that have great peculiarities that make them a very interesting group of animals to study.

Here we are going to tell you all the characteristics, habitat, feeding and reproduction of the snake.

Snake Features

These are animals that do not have limbs, but can move on almost any surface. This is one of the characteristics that makes these reptiles interesting. There are more than 3460 species of snakes around the world.. Of this number of species, only 450 of these species are poisonous. However, there are some whose poison is so deadly that they have spread their reputation as dangerous.

Many of the snakes are captured to be able to take advantage of their skin or for food. This means that the human being is causing many of the snake species to be in danger of extinction. These animals have inhabited our planet for more than 150 million years, during the Cretaceous period. There is great information about this animal thanks to the fossil records that have been found of these species.

They are known to have evolved from aquatic lizards. The size of the snake can vary from 10 centimeters to 10 meters in length. The skeleton of these animals is made up of vertebrae in large numbers. An example of this is the python, which has about 400 vertebrae.

Not having limbs, they have to move thanks to the use of their scales. The scales that are in the entry position are the ones that allow forward movement and prevent them from drifting to the sides. The movement of the serpent is to have emptiness. They can move in different ways, although the most common is to make lateral undulations with their body. This duration begins at the head and ends at its tail. They do it to be able to move at a constant speed.

The sense of vision is quite limited. Thus, They make use of their tongue to be able to recognize different smells and interact with the environment where they are.. Thanks to their tongue, they can move from the top to the bottom of the liver, turn their tongue to the mouth to know if something is edible or if they are in danger. This is one of the reasons why we see snakes frequently sticking out their tongues. The tail has a length of approximately 20% of its body.

Habitat and area of ​​distribution

The snakes considered a solitary animal and isolates itself from other species. It is rare to see two snakes together. It only occurs in the hibernation season and the mating season. They are able to live and almost anywhere, from jungle regions to tropical areas. The ideal for a snake to survive in good conditions is that the temperature is constant. Being cold-blooded animals, they are not capable of regulating the temperature on their own. They need the heat of the sun to be able to regulate their body temperature.

Other ecosystems where we can find snakes are in deserts and savannahs. Some species can be found even in the water, up the trees and under the ground.

Feeding and reproduction of the snake

The snake's diet is carnivorous. It feeds mainly on birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians and insects. Only if food is scarce or difficult to find, can they feed on specimens of the same species. To feed, they can swallow their prey completely since they do not have dental structures to be able to chew.

One of the disadvantages that the snake has regarding its diet is a digestion process. To swallow the prey completely, during digestion they must be placed immobile. This helps to replenish the energy expended during the prey capture process. At the moment when the snake is in its digestion process they are quite vulnerable to attack by any individual.

One of the tactics they have in order to survive is to expel the food from their interior when they are in danger. In this way, they can regain mobility again and escape in time. Because the digestion process is very slow and takes a long time, they can go months without having to eat.

As for reproduction, they are oviparous animals. This means that they lay eggs with the exception of the boa snake, whose reproduction is ovoviviparous. The process for production and mating occurs during the spring and summer season. This will depend on the availability of food and climatic variables. The males are the ones that court the female. For this, some fights between males take place to be able to decide which copulation with her. These are the only situations in which we can find several snake specimens in the same place.

Once the male mates with the female, he will go his own way and it is the female who will adopt the most hostile behavior. The incubation period usually lasts between 2 and 5 months. and the mother abandons them as soon as she deposits the eggs. At birth, the young must fend for themselves.

Venomous and non-venomous snakes

When you hear about snakes, the first thing you think of is the lethality of their bites. Only 10% of all snake species are venomous. Among the species that are venomous we find the bastard snake, the cobra, the rattlesnake, coral snake, sea snake, taipan snakes and velvet snake, among others.

Among the non-venomous snakes we find many pets such as the anaconda, boa, collared snake, python, horseshoe snake, among others.

I hope that with this information you can learn more about the snake.