Snake Information

Snake is the general name for the suborder Serpentes of the class Reptilia, the scaly order. The body is elongated, with degenerate limbs, no feet, no movable eyelids, no ear holes, no limbs, no forelimb bands, and the surface of the body is covered with scales. Some are venomous, but most are non-venomous. There are also snakes in the Chinese zodiac

Snakes belong to the reptilian order Serpentes. The body is elongated, the limbs are degenerate, the body surface is covered with scales, although the snake is elongated but is a vertebrate. Mostly terrestrial, but also semi-arboreal, semi-aquatic, and aquatic, they are distributed all over the world except Antarctica and islands such as New Zealand and Ireland. They feed on mice, frogs and insects. They are generally divided into non-venomous and venomous snakes. The difference between the physical characteristics of venomous and non-venomous snakes are: the head of the venomous snake is generally triangular; the mouth contains fangs with venom glands at the roots that secrete venom; the tail is generally short and suddenly thins. The head of the non-venomous snake is oval; there are no fangs in the mouth; and the tail is gradually thinned. Although they can be identified in this way, there are exceptions and they should not be taken lightly. There are many different kinds of snakes all over the world, with the tropics being the most common. The venomous snakes in China include the Mangshan Branded Ironhead, the five-step snake, the bamboo leaf green, the cobra, the pit viper and the golden ringed snake, etc. The non-venomous snakes include the brocade snake, the python, the big red snake, etc. The venomous snakes in China include the snake, the python, and the big red snake.

The meat of non-venomous snakes is edible, and their venom and bile are valuable medicines, but some are also protected animals.

Snakes walk in many different ways, either in a straight line or in a sinuous way, which is determined by the structure of the snake. The snake's body is divided into three parts: head, trunk and tail. Between the head and the trunk is the neck, the boundary is not very obvious, the trunk and the tail to the excretory anus as the boundary. Snakes do not have limbs, the whole body is covered by scales, there is a protective role of the skin. Snakes are divided into venomous snakes and non-venomous snakes, non-venomous snakes head is generally conical, thin at the front end and thick at the back end; venomous snakes are triangular; the snake's torso is a long tube; the snake's tail for the anus after the part.

The internal structure of the snake is divided into ten major parts: skin system, skeletal system, muscular system, respiratory system, digestive system, cloacal system, nervous system, sensory organs and chromosomes.

So how can a snake crawl without legs? In fact, not only can snakes crawl, they crawl quite fast.

Snakes can crawl because they have a special way of moving: a sinuous motion, in which all snakes can crawl forward. When crawling, the snake body on the ground for horizontal wave-like bending, so that the back side of the bending place to apply force on the rough ground, by

the ground reaction force to push the snake body forward, if the snake is placed on a smooth glass plate, it will be difficult to inch, can not crawl in this way, of course, do not have to worry about the snake because of this, because in nature there will be no such as glass as smooth as the ground. The second type is crawling movement; the snake has no sternum, its ribs can move freely back and forth, and the ribs are connected with the abdominal scales by the costal skin muscle. When the rib skin muscle contraction, the ribs will move forward, which drives the wide abdominal scales in order to erect, that is, slightly raised, raised abdominal scales like stepping on the ground, but then only abdominal scales move and the snake body did not move, and then the rib skin muscle relaxation, the trailing edge of the abdominal scales will be exerted on the rough ground, relying on the counteraction of the snake pushed to the front, this way of movement produces the effect is to make the body of the snake straight line forward crawling, just like the tank. The third way is the expansion movement, the front part of the snake's body is raised, stretching forward as far as possible, and when it comes into contact with a supporting object, the back part of the snake will follow and shrink forward, then raise the front part of the body and stretch forward, get the support, and then the back part shrinks forward, and this way alternately stretching, the snake can keep crawling forward.

Snakes that crawl slowly on the ground, such as the lead-colored water snake, when startled, the snake's body will quickly and continuously retract, speeding up the speed of crawling, giving people the feeling of jumping.

Also snakes have a sense of hearing! Only their hearing organ - that is, the structure of the ear is very simple, only the inner ear, there is no outer ear and tympanic membrane structure, so the sense of hearing is very slow.

Habitat

The python (12 pictures) snake, belonging to the reptile order, suborder Serpentes, is a true terrestrial vertebrate. Venomous snakes are scary, but as long as you pay attention to beware, it is not so dangerous. Snakes to eat mainly rats (also eat frogs, birds, etc.), snakes its appearance, shape and color peculiar, covered with scales, head and neck high, body and tail swinging, fast traveling, looking for puppets chirping, swimming in the water transition, it is really difficult to amuse people. Snakes like to live in the shade, damp, off the beaten track, overgrown, trees, there are wood holes or piles of rocks, with stacks of wood and grass and ancient foothills and earth walls, and bait-rich environment, these are their habitat, infestation, reproduction of the place, there are snakes living in the water.

They live in caves, the mouth of the cave can be seen in the thinning of the feces into the grain, so we know that there are no snakes in the hole. Snakes have the habit of hibernation, to the winter coiled up in the hole to sleep, a sleep is a few months, do not eat, do not drink, a motionless to maintain physical strength. On windy and sunny days, they will occasionally come out to bask in the sun and sometimes feed. When the spring flowers bloom, the snake wakes up, begins to go out to feed, and sheds its original coat. When molting, the snake secretes a fluid between the old and new skin, and this fluid helps the snake to molt. The diameter and length of the shed coat can be used to measure the weight and even name the snake. Soon after molting, the snake's activity increases, foraging increases, and body condition gradually recovers. With the gradual rise in temperature, the snake enters estrus from late April to early-mid May. When looking for a mate, the male and female snakes emit a clear and bright chirping sound, "da da da da" like the sound of hitting a stone.

Snakes generally lay eggs from late April to early-mid June, depending on the species. The eggs are usually cemented into a large egg mass, and the number of eggs in the egg mass ranges from 8 to 15. Snakes are often hungry or semi-starved. Generally "wait for the rabbit" way to hunt, but sometimes also active. I have witnessed a green bamboo hussar in the river chasing frogs, frogs jumped into the river, the snake also followed the jump into the river, like two diving athletes before and after. I have also seen the snake eating bird eggs. It quietly climbed up the wall near the eaves of the house, swam to the nest of the house swallows, and constantly stretched out its tongue, which frightened away the parent bird. When the snake found its eggs, the first attack, entangled, to be safe, and then open the mouth, swallowed in one go. Do not think that its mouth is small, in fact, it can swallow food equivalent to 8 to 10 times the size of its own head. After eating enough food, the snake feels tired and enters a state of rest, at which time it is very easy to be captured. As for the number of times a snake forages, it varies depending on the species and size of the snake. Generally, during the summer foraging period, especially during the egg-laying and breeding period, the snake will forage once a day or once every other day. Slightly larger snakes, which forage in larger quantities, generally feed from 3 to about once a week. Snakes also like to sunbathe in the sunlight, the time is generally about 10 to 12 o'clock in the morning. Line sunbathing, generally crouching on the ground in the grass or entangled in the trunk of a tree, but also half naked in the hole outside, outside the pile of stones in the shape of a coiled, with a variety of postures. The activity pattern of snakes to day and night mostly, depending on the species.

Digestive Eating

Snakes have a very powerful digestive system, some of which begin to digest while swallowing and will spit out bones.

Also, snakes have to rely on crawling on the ground to digest, using their belly and uneven ground to rub against.

The venom of a poisonous snake is actually the snake's digestive fluids, some carnivorous snakes digestive fluids of the digestive capacity of the stronger, dissolved in the body of the bitten animal, so show "toxicity", human bile is also such digestive fluids. But more neurotoxins and blood toxins.

Snakes have a strong appetite and eat a lot, usually biting first and then swallowing. The mouth can vary with the size of the food, and when larger foods are encountered, the jaws shorten and widen to become a tightly wrapped membrane around the food. Snakes often start swallowing from the head of the animal, and swallowing small birds from the top of the head, so that the beak curves toward the bird's neck and does not puncture the snake's mouth or esophagus. The speed of swallowing is related to the size of the food, with snakes swallowing small white mice in 5 to 6 minutes, and larger birds taking 15 to 18 minutes.Barton suggests that African rock pythons begin swallowing only when they determine the location of the nose or ears of their catch. Vipers also have the ability to determine the head and tail of their catch.

Snakes digest food slowly, taking five to six days to finish each meal, but the peak of digestion is 22 to 50 hours after eating. If you eat a lot, it takes a little longer to digest. The rate of digestion of snakes is related to the external temperature, Skoczylas (1970) observed that swimming snakes in 5 ℃ temperature, digestion completely stopped, to 15 ℃ digestion is still very slow, the digestion process up to 6 days or so, in 25 ℃, digestion is only accelerated to carry out.

Snakes' teeth are unable to crunch food, and the snake's digestive system, such as the pharynx, and the corresponding muscular system have a great capacity for expansion and contraction.

Snakes primarily use their mouths to hunt. Non-venomous snakes generally rely on sharp teeth borne in their upper and lower jaws to bite their prey, and then quickly use their bodies to entangle or crush the live prey into a more elongated form before swallowing it. Vipers also rely on their fangs to inject potent venom that kills the prey immediately after the bite. Snakes first open their mouths wide when swallowing, take the animal's head into the mouth, use their teeth to jam the animal's body, and then slowly swallow by virtue of the mandible for left-right interactive movement. When one side of the mandible rotates backward, the teeth on the same side hook the food and send it further to the pharynx, followed by the other side of the mandible rotating backward, and the teeth on the same side send the food further to the pharynx. In this way, even very large food can be swallowed due to the constant interactive backward rotation of the mandibles.

Snakes like to steal eggs, some of which they eat only after first crushing the shell with their bodies. Some snakes, however, can swallow eggs or other larger eggs whole. In swallowing first to the back end of the body or borrow other obstacles against the egg body; and then try to open the mouth as wide as possible to swallow the whole egg. Interestingly, a group of egg-eating snakes in the African and Indian family Ophiuroidea have a musculature that is specially adapted for egg-eating. Their neck vertebrae have long and sharp ventral protrusion, can break through the back wall of the pharynx, in the pharynx above the formation of 6 to 8 longitudinal rows of sharp serrations, when the egg is swallowed into the pharynx, with the pharyngeal pharyngeal swallowing action of "sawing eggs" to the hard eggshell sawing, and by virtue of the tension of the neck muscles, so that the eggshell is broken, and at the same time, the yolk, egg white extruded to the stomach; the remaining indigestible eggs. The remaining indigestible eggshell fragments and egg membrane are pressed into a small ball and spat out of the mouth.

Editing the Role of Snakes

We know the extremely important role that wildlife plays in maintaining the natural ecosystem. Wildlife species are all important links in the ecosystem, and they depend on and restrain each other through the relationship of the food chain. Once there is a problem in one part of the food chain, the balance of the whole ecosystem will be seriously affected. Grass - locusts - frogs (rats) - snakes - eagles, this is one of the food chain, if the Humans hunt wild snakes uncontrollably, there will be fewer and fewer snakes, leading to more and more rampant rodent infestation in forests, meadows and farmlands, and the losses caused by rodent and insect infestation to agriculture, forestry and animal husbandry are incalculable, and the ecological environment will be seriously damaged.

Snakes are very seductive animals. Although it can be seen in the mountains, woods, fields, and even in the water, but no matter where, as long as there is a snake appeared, will attract a large group of people, the old and the young will gather around to see, especially the children, but also excited. And, not only like the snake people want to look around, people afraid of snakes are often with the fear of looking at it from afar. Visible, in people's minds, the snake always have a few points of fear, but also inevitably some sense of mystery. Snake of the big set (20)

Turning over the history of biological evolution, snake on the earth, much earlier than people. more than 3 billion years ago, the ground began to have the most primitive creatures. After a long period of evolution, biological species from simple to complex, from low to high level, from aquatic to terrestrial, to about 340 million years ago around the present day, the emergence of a true terrestrial vertebrates, which is reptiles. As time went on, these animals became more and more numerous, reaching their peak in variety and number, in the sky, in the water, on the ground, they were all active. Dinosaurs, in particular, flourished, with Ceratosaurus, Duckbill, Stegosaurus, Tyrannosaurus Rex, and all sorts of dragons everywhere. This was the golden age of reptiles. During this period, the ancestors of beasts and birds also evolved from the primitive species of reptiles, and the ancestors of turtles, crocodiles and lizards were born. Snakes and lizards are most closely related; they are close relatives, and snakes have changed from lizards. In the original species of lizards, some of them adapted to the new environment during the long evolutionary process, and their limbs gradually degenerated, forming some new features and turning into snakes; another part of them, although their limbs are no longer there, still remain lizards to this day because they do not have the characteristics of snakes. For example, the brittle snake lizard and the fine snake lizard produced in Guizhou are lizards with no feet. Therefore, snakes are the youngest branch of reptiles and the last of the highly adaptable reptiles to take the stage of life.

The earliest snake fossils were found in strata from the early Cretaceous period, about 130 million years ago. In fact, snakes appeared a little earlier than that. It is speculated that there were probably snakes in the Jurassic period, about 150 million years ago. Venomous snakes appeared much later, evolving from non-venomous snakes and appearing no earlier than 27 million years ago. If the history of the Earth is like a movie that runs for 2 hours, then snakes don't appear on the screen until the last 5 minutes, and venomous snakes are not seen until the last minute.

It can be hypothesized that the ancient apes, the ancestors of mankind, had the opportunity to encounter arboreal snakes when they were still living in the trees. Later, when the forests gradually thinned and declined and the ancient apes were forced to come down to the ground, the chances of encountering snakes or coming into contact with them were even greater. In the struggle of primitive man against all kinds of animals, snakes were inevitably an important opponent as well. They captured snakes for food, or were bitten by them and suffered casualties. The latter situation is described in the "Han Fei Zi", which states that "in the ancient times, the people were few and the beasts were many, and the people were not able to defeat the beasts, insects and snakes". In the origin of the fossilized Chinese apes, the remains of snakes were once found, which also indicates that the apes had a close relationship with snakes at that time. This practice of life and production struggle is bound to leave a deep impression on the minds of primitive human beings, and it is likely that the fear and reverence of snakes will arise from it.

When the primitive human beings evolved from the ancient people to the period of new people, they broke away from the primitive group living in promiscuous marriage, and entered the stage of blood group marriage, which gave rise to the early matriarchal clan society. The clan is the earliest and most popular organization of mankind. Whether in Asia and Europe, or in America and Australia, its ancient society has almost always had this system. The clan is the basic unit of primitive * * * productive society. In the course of its formation, the clan often adopts a natural object with which it has the greatest interest as the name or symbol of the clan, and this is the totem. The concept of totem is often linked to the mode of production. For example, the American Gulf tribes in the Chickasaws, fishing and hunting for a living, there are wild boar clans, bird clans, fish clans and deer clans; Mokee tribes, there are agriculture for a living, there are tobacco clans and reed clans. Totems are not only the emblems of clans, but also contain elements of primitive religion. Clan members even believe that their ancestors are from the totem of the kind of natural objects changed, and therefore this natural object as the protection of the clan's deity, is sacrosanct, which formed the totem worship. Totem plays a role in maintaining unity within the clan. In New Mexico's Ejibwa tribe, members of the Crane Clan claim that they are the children and grandchildren of the Crane, and that it was the Great Spirit who turned their ancestors from cranes into human beings. In some tribes, members of the clan are determined not to eat the kind of animal that is the totem of the clan, so it is obviously also influenced by the concept of totem worship. Snake (16)

In the primitive tribes, the snake as the totem of the clan is also very common. According to Morgan's "Ancient Society" in the record, in the American Indians, there are nine tribes in the snake clan, and some even rattlesnake as the totem of the clan. In some primitive tribes in Australia is also the same, especially the Warren Mug people, but also to hold a kind of snake totem worship ceremony. Participants in this ceremony, with a variety of pigments painted all over the body, dressed as a snake, imitating the snake's activity posture twisting body, and song and dance, singing the history and power of the snake, in order to pray for the snake god blessing blessing. It can be said that in all animal worship, the worship of snakes is the most extensive, and in the religious beliefs of most primitive clans, snakes used to occupy a prominent position.

Totem worship also exists in our primitive society. Images of frogs and birds were found on the colored pottery of the Majiayao culture; there were also images of snakes on the pottery of the Yangshao culture; and images of human heads, birds and beasts were seen on the pottery unearthed from the village of Half-slope, some of which may have been the clan totems of the time. Interestingly, many of the legendary ancestors of the Han people are also incarnations of snakes. According to "Liezi" recorded: "Herpes ?ti, female snail clan, Shenlong (Nong) clan, Xia Hou's, snake body, human face, bull head and tiger nose. The Classic of Mountains and Seas" said "**** Gong's snake body Zhu hair". Fuxi tribe in the Flying Dragon's, submerged Dragon's, Jurong's, descending Dragon's, Earth Dragon's, Water Dragon's, Red Dragon's, Green Dragon's, White Dragon's, Black Dragon's, Yellow Dragon's and other 11 clans, which may be a variety of snakes as its totem clans. It is feared that the dragons in our legends are the deification of snakes, for example, the Yi tribe who lived in the East in ancient times, and one of their famous chiefs was called Taijian. He is said to have had the head of a man and the body of a serpent, and is also said to have had the body of a dragon.

Snake respiration: the main respiratory organs of snakes are the lungs, with the skin assisting in respiration.

Edit Species and Habits

At present, there are about 3,000 species of snakes in the world, among which there are more than 650 species of venomous snakes. In China, there are 216 species of snakes and 65 species of venomous snakes.　

Snakes vary greatly in individuality. Distributed in the Caribbean islands of Martinia, Barbados and other islands of the line snake, is the world's shortest non-venomous snake, only snake (10) 9cm long, the longest line snake king is only 11.94cm. the largest venomous snakes is the king cobra, the longest up to 6 m. Distributed in Southeast Asia, Indonesia and the Philippines around the boa constrictor, generally more than 5m, the longest up to 7m or so. The South American anaconda is even larger, weighing more than 100 kilograms. The world's most venomous snake for the inland Tai Pan snake, regardless of the speed of movement, venom toxicity or attack power, are at the top of the list, is the king of vipers. There also exists a snake called the Coastal Tipsy Snake, which many people mistakenly think is more powerful, but it's not that way at all. The Coastal Tipsy Snake is slightly weaker than the Inland Tipsy Snake in terms of toxicity.

In early September 1989, China's Hunan Yizhang Mangshan Mountain area found "Qinglong" belongs to the genus of pitvipers subfamily branded iron head genus, and will be named "Mangshan Branded Iron Head Snake", only a few thousand, known as a generation of "national treasure! The only remaining thousands of them are called a generation of "national treasure". In fact, there are many more rare snakes in China than the Mangshan branded iron head.　

Snakes are very smart and flexible, so the Bible has "gentle as a dove, dexterous as a snake," said. The snake's predatory instincts are quite strong, and can swallow food that is many times larger than itself. Ancient China has long had Ba snake swallowed elephant legend, said Ba land can swallow elephant snake, three years before spitting out the bones. Africa has an egg-eating snake, not as thick as a person's finger, but can swallow eggs and duck eggs, eat the end of the egg white and yolk, but also spit out the eggshell; Brazilian grassland fruit-colored snake, the whole body is green, the tip of the tongue has a fruit-shaped round tongue particles, similar to the cherries, the birds mistakenly think it is a fruit, due to pecking and death; Southeast Asia and the African Roush Ma River Basin of the flying snakes, whose ribcage has a strong mobility, glide can be unfolded, so the body is flattened, so the body is flattened. Make the body flattened, so it can leap into the air from the branches of the high, steeply gliding down, sometimes as fast as an arrow off the string, can devour the flight of small birds; and the African black viper crawls the fastest, can be higher than the speed of 5 meters per second to sprint forward, chasing after escaped prey.　

In fact, snakes memory is not good at all, there will not be revenge so a statement, the ancient books have recorded "Sui Hou see wounded snake and medical, live. Snake healing and go, articulated luminous beads to report" of the story, real life, there is also a python "dragon dragon" to save people, the family python in the flood saved the child, the family python in the flood for the people to lead the way, Hainan python to catch the thief to take care of the children and other events. As early as in the 3rd century BC, India has played the occupation of snake, in the "snake Lang" playing the "snake flute", a snake curls up and dances, the dance is flexible and soft, fascinating. Some places in South America, the python can also be domesticated into a python, responsible for guarding the home and "care" of young children. Indonesia's Florentine island residents to raise non-venomous snakes can accompany the owner with the work of the ground. Once the seeds have been planted in the ground, it will stand guard and chase away wild birds that peck at the seeds; when the fruit on the trees is ripe, the house snake will climb up to the branches and flick its tail to knock down the ripe fruit. Some countries also use poisonous snakes to guard their vaults. In addition to using modern devices, they put in one or two highly venomous snakes to discourage gold thieves. Even more interesting is the use of live snakes for earrings. West of Cameroon, Africa, there is a kind of fine as a finger "silver gun snake", pattern is very beautiful. Local women captured after pulling out the fangs, the snake's tail tied into a small circle, tied on a thin line worn on the earlobe. It is very interesting to see the snake raise its head and spit out its red tongue.　

Snake is a treasure: snake meat is delicious, nutritious, for the meal in the delicacies; snake gall, snake liver, snake skin, snake venom, snake oil, snake, and even snake blood, snake intestines, etc. can be used as medicine to cure diseases; snake soaked in pharmaceutical wine, rheumatoid arthritis, neuralgia, etc.; five-step snake is also the treatment of intractable itching and leprosy of the traditional medicine. Snake gall is very valuable, can drive away wind and dampness, brighten the eyes and benefit the liver. Pit viper powder can cure malignant tumors, rheumatism, if with herbs, has the miracle of prolonging life; snake venom is a rare treasure, can be made into analgesic, anti-virus, anti-coagulant medicine. Snake venom is far more expensive than gold, 1g snake venom is worth tens of thousands of dollars, so we have to protect the snake.　

Snakes were once worshipped as an animal. Some primitive tribes, such as the American Indians, had nine tribes with snake clans. Some even used the rattlesnake as a national symbol. The Wallenbergs of Australia have a totem-worship ceremony. Ceremony, people with paint on the whole body, dressed up as a snake and song and dance, eulogizing the history and power of the snake, praying for the snake God blessing. After the dissolution of primitive society, the worship of snake custom in many ethnic groups is still quite common.