Interesting facts about Snakes

King cobras make nests. Generally snakes show little or no parental care. But a pair of King Cobra will cooperate to find a suitable nesting spot. Nests are built usually in the month of April. Despite having no limbs, the female remarkably constructs her nest of dead leaves by scooping them up with her large body. Females then lay approximately 20-50 eggs, two months after mating, with an incubation period ranging from 60 to 80 days. The female will then lie on the nest until just before the eggs hatch, at which point instinct will cause the mother to leave the young so as to prevent her from eating them. The male king cobra is similarly unique in that he stays to guard the nesting area, until the young hatch, patrolling a large area around the nest for threats. Such complex nesting and rearing behavior is unique among snakes. No other snake shows any parental care.

King cobras eat other snakes. King Cobras eat almost all other snakes with the rat snake being it’s favourite. The King Cobra is peculiar in that it feeds almost exclusively on other snakes, which is reflected in its genus name of Ophiophagus (Snake eater). The King Cobra is known to attack larger snakes, including pythons. The king cobra's diet is mainly composed of other snakes. When food is scarce though, king cobras will also feed on other small vertebrates, such as lizards. After a large meal the snake may live for many months without another meal due to its very slow metabolic rate.

Snakes can survive without eating food for several days. Snakes have a slow metabolic rate and thus can survive without eating for many days at a stretch, after a sumptuous meal. Snakes like King cobras can survive many months without food.

Snakes are cold blooded. Snakes are cold blooded like all reptiles, with the exception of the Leatherback Sea Turtle, a reptile that elevates its body temperature well above that of its surroundings. Though cellular metabolism produces some heat, reptiles do not generate enough heat to maintain a constant body temperature and are therefore referred to as "cold-blooded". Instead they rely on heat from the environment to regulate their internal temperature, e.g. by moving between sun and shade, or by preferential circulation - moving warmed blood into the body core, while pushing cool blood to the periphery. While this lack of adequate internal heating imposes costs relative to temperature regulation through behavior, it also provides a large benefit by allowing reptiles to survive on much less food as compared to similarly sized mammals and birds, who burn much of their food for warmth.

Pit vipers use a thermal sensitive nasal pit to detect pray. Pit vipers are named after their specialized thermo receptors; heat-sensitive organs, located on either side of the head that look like small pits. These pits contain membranes sensitive to infrared radiation and allow the snakes to locate their prey based on temperature differences with their environment. To a pit viper, rodents and birds that are only fractionally warmer than the background stand out even in complete darkness. Like a primitive pair of eyes, these pits even give them depth perception, allowing them to strike accurately under such conditions.

Snake’s tongue is used to sense the surroundings. A snake smells by using its forked tongue to collect airborne particles then passing them to the Jacobson's organ, a special organ in the mouth for examination. The fork in the tongue gives the snake a sort of directional sense of smell.

Young snakes break out of their egg with the help of special “teeth”. A snake does not look after its eggs or take care of the young ones but leaves the eggs to be hatched on their own. The hatchlings or the young snakes therefore have special teeth to break open the eggs and come out.

Most snakes can climb trees. Rat snakes and pythons are excellent examples.

Snakes shed skin on a regular basis and it is a part of its growth. The process is called moulting. This is usually achieved by the snake rubbing its head against a hard object, such as a rock or piece of wood, causing the already stretched skin to split. At this point, the snake continues to rub its skin on objects, causing the end nearest the head to peel back on it, until the snake is able to crawl out of its skin, effectively turning the moulted skin inside-out. This is similar to how one might remove a sock from your foot by grabbing the open end and pulling it over itself. The snake's skin is often left in one piece after the moulting process. It is a usual process, essential for a snake’s growth.

All snakes are carnivorous. Snakes do not chew their food and have a very flexible lower jaw, the two halves of which are not rigidly attached, and numerous other joints in their skull, allowing them to open their mouths wide enough to swallow their prey whole, even if it is larger in diameter than the snake itself. It is a common misconception that snakes actually dislocate their lower jaw to consume large prey.
Snakes do not normally prey on people, unless startled or injured, preferring instead to avoid contact.In fact, the majority of snakes are either non-venomous or possess venom that is not harmful to humans.
Snake venom is a complex mixture of proteins and is produced by venom glands. Snake venom is highly modified saliva that is produced by special glands. Snake venom is a combination of many different proteins and enzymes. Many of these proteins are harmless to humans, but some are toxins. Snake venoms are generally harmless when ingested, and are therefore not technically poisons.

Snake venom is used to make anti venom & many other life saving drugs. An anti venom serum is actually a small quantity of the venom itself which when injected into an animal or human affects only slightly triggering an allergic reaction to it. The allergic reaction will allow anti bodies to be formed and thus immunity to the venom is developed.

There is no visible difference between a male and female snake. Snakes of either sex would look identical, the only difference being that of a hemipenis (plural- hemipenes) in a male and a cloaca in a female which is visible only on a deeper study.

Vipers have foldable front fangs. When not in use, the fangs are folded backward against the roof of the mouth. Vipers have a very affective system of injecting venom into its prey’s body. The hinged fangs are more intricate system that allows the snake to instantaneously strike, inject and withdraw from a struggling prey. The fangs are enclosed in a membranous sheath and can be folded backwards and upwards against the roof of the mouth. During a strike the fangs can swing forward and the mouth can open to 180 degrees.

Flying snakes only glide in the air, they can’t fly. They virtually swim through the air and can glide a distance of 100m. It can only glide by extending its ribs and pulling in the underside.


• The snake today forms part of the symbol of physicians and veterinarians (the snake is wrapped around Asklepios' staff), linking snakes to millennia of healing and medical practice.
• 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.
• Many snakes, such as vipers, boas and pythons have temperature-sensing organs on their heads. These heat pits are sensitive to changes in temperature of as little as 0.002 degrees Celsius, and effectively allow the snake to navigate and hunt in the dark.
• Snakes can have over 300 pairs of ribs.
• Snakes turn "blue" before a shed. This opaque change to the skin is actually due to the presence of a lymph-like layer of fluid between the old and new skins, prior to the shed of the old skin.
• Reports of the longest, heaviest and oldest reptiles abound. Many cannot be verified. A reticulated python, shot in Indonesia in 1912, was said to be 32 feet 9 1/2 inches in length. One Burmese python weighed in at over 400 pounds. Although seldom as long as the giant pythons, the green anaconda is a heavier snake. Sir Percy Fawcett is said to have killed an anaconda measuring 62 feet in 1907, in Brazil. Since the early part of the last century, the New York Zoological Society has offered a reward of $50,000 for the capture of a live snake greater than 30 feet in length. The oldest recorded snake is a boa constrictor named Popeye, who died in 1977 at the age of 40 years, 3 months and 14 days.
• The smallest snake may be the Martinique thread snake (Leptotyphlops bilineatus), which does not grow any bigger than 4 1/4 inches.
• A snake's internal organs, although superficially different, have basically the same functions as those of a mammal. The difference lies in their arrangement. They are placed one after the other, to accommodate the tube-like body. All snakes have a right lung and associated air sacs that extend most of the way to the vent. In most species, the left lung is considerably shorter, or even missing.
• The glottis, which is the entry to the trachea (breathing tube), can move to either side, to allow the snake to swallow prey. This is the tube you see when you look at the floor of a snake's mouth. Cartilage around the opening of the tube closes to prevent food from entering the respiratory tract, and produces the classic "hiss" in many snakes.
• A snake's heart can slide 1 to 1 1/2 times its length from its normal position, to allow the passage of swallowed prey. This is because of the relative mobility of the pericardial sac, which surrounds the heart.
• Venom glands have evolved independently in several species. Venoms are very complex substances, which may consist of a dozen or more toxic components. These can include substances poisonous to the heart, nerves and DNA as well as enzymes that break down natural tissue barriers, allowing the spread of venom within the body.
• Spitting cobras can inject venom in their bites, but can also force venom out, under pressure, through tiny channels in their fangs. Raising the front half of its body, the snake can aim venom at the eyes and mucous membranes of its target, over 3 feet away.
• Snakes have two rows of teeth on the top jaw, one row on the bottom jaw. The teeth, including fangs, in most cases are replaced throughout life.
• When the tongue is in the mouth, it lies in a sheath beneath the glottis with its tip touching the vomeronasal or Jacobsen's organ. This is an organ of smell, so when your snake flicks out his tongue, he is, in fact, "tasting" or smelling the air. The forked design allows the snake to detect on which side the smell is strongest, and so to locate his prey, even in the dark.
• The Brahminy blind snake are all females. When mature, they lay fertile eggs, and the young are clones of the mother. Although native to Asia, this snake is now found in warm countries all over the world.
• The Emerald tree boa is born red or yellow, and changes to green after about a year.
• The rattlesnake's rattle consists of six to 10 layers of scales, which fail to shed and make that distinctive sound when the tail is shaken as a warning. Eventually the older segments will slough as the rattle lengthens.
• The tail of the Calabar ground boa is blunt, cylindrical and has white scales on the underside, and altogether appears very much like a head. When threatened, the snake coils into a ball, hides its head, leaving the less vulnerable tail exposed to confuse predators.
• The common egg eater (Dasypeltis scabra) is a highly specialized snake. Although it is not venomous, the markings are sufficiently similar to those of the deadly cobra or viper that a potential predator will think twice before attacking. The egg eater can also expand its jaws to mimic the larger head of the venomous. To consume an egg, the jaws can expand to four or five times the size of the egg. Once engulfed, the egg is pierced by two specialized vertebrae. Other modified bones in the vertebral column stabilize it, prevent its slipping out of the mouth or further into the snake. Yet another set of unique vertebrae crush the egg. Once emptied of its contents, the shell is regurgitated.
• The black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepsis) is brown, gray or olive, but never black. It is a particularly dangerous snake, with a bite that kills 95 to 100 percent of victims. The black mamba may also be the fastest snake, reaching speeds of 10 to 12 miles per hour. Other particularly dangerous snakes include the common krait, Russell's viper (both Asian snakes) and the taipan (Australian). Seven of the 10 most deadly snakes live in Australia.
• Snakes move by relaxing and contracting muscles lengthwise along the body. Sidewinding is a specialized form of motion that allows a snake to travel with speed and relatively little expenditure of energy along loose desert sand. The snake lifts a loop of its body from the surface, using its head and tail. The loop is moved sideways and then back to the ground. This creates the typical series of unconnected parallel tracks.
• The paired claw-like structures seen on either side of the vent of a snake such as a ball or royal python, are in fact, remnants of the legs present in the animals from which the modern species has evolved.