Snakes are extremely successful animals. Except for some islands and the coldest corners of the globe, snakes' habitats span the planet. They're also incredibly diverse. There are snakes that live in the soil. There are snakes that live up in trees. There's a snake in southeastern Asia that glides from tree to tree," said Kevin Calhoon, curator of forests at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga. Snakes have an unusual relationship with food.
Without the pesky need to produce body heat, a snake can get by on far fewer calories than most other warm-blooded animals its size. Snakes may use their energy efficiently, but they still need to eat.
And they lack some traits that other animals use to chow down. Without limbs, a snake can't hold its meal in place or push the food down its gullet, Klaczko explained. Snakes also lack serrated teeth for ripping and flat teeth for chewing. The scales near the head are small while the scales on the underside of their body are thick and protect their bodies from the ground.
A snake continues to grow throughout its life. They periodically shed their skin as part of this growing process. Snakes live on every continent of the world except Antarctica. There are even species which swim in the ocean.
Snakes are carnivorous. That means that they eat other animals. Snakes do not have the right kind of teeth to chew their food so they must eat their catch whole. Their jaw is structured in such a way that it allows the mouth to open wider than their own body in order to swallow their prey whole.
Once swallowed, the muscles of their body and their hook-shaped teeth help push the food toward the stomach. The food is then digested over a long period of time — depending upon how warm the snake is. The warmer their bodies, the faster they digest their food. But it generally takes 3—5 days for food to be digested.
Very large snakes such as the anaconda from South America eat rather large prey, so their digestion can take weeks. Poisonous or venomous snakes inject poison or venom into their prey. This starts the digestive process even before the snake swallows that food.
Snakes tend to eat rats, birds and their eggs, mice, chipmunks, frogs, gophers, and other small rodents. Some species will even consume insects or earthworms. Very large snakes will even eat deer, pigs, monkeys and other large prey. The Kingsnake is known for the fact that it will eat other snakes, including venomous snakes like rattlesnakes. People, other mammals and birds are known as a warm blooded animals.
Our bodies can regulate the temperature up or down as needed for our environment. We sweat when we are hot and shiver when we are cold. Amphibians and reptiles are cold blooded. Their body temperatures match that of their surroundings. Because of this, cold blooded animals can not survive well in extreme hot or cold. To warm themselves they will move to a sunny rock or roadside. To cool their bodies they will seek shade or sometimes even dig a hole in the ground.
The bodies of snakes have no feet, flippers or legs to propel them along. They must use the action of their scales and muscles to scoot their bodies across the ground.
The scales on the underside of their bodies are specialized for this purpose like the tread on a tire. Different species of snakes use one of the four manners of movement: concertina, serpentine, sidewinding, and caterpillar. Visit HowStuffWorks to see how these four styles of movement propel a snake. Ok, so not like a bird — with wings — but some snakes do hang from branches and swing themselves into the air.
Then by flattening their ribcage and making a side to side motion, they keep their bodies in the air long enough to glide for about yards before crashing to the ground or into another tree. The five different flying snakes are all poisonous and live in the tropical rainforests of Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia.
No snakes can fly upwards or take off from the ground. Many species of snakes can move about the water. Some just slide on the surface, while others can actually swim underwater. A few species even live the majority of their lives in the ocean — these are known as sea snakes. They do come to the surface to breathe air, but can often stay down for upwards of an hour. Sea snakes dine on fish and eels. All non- poisonous snakes have teeth on the upper jaw and the lower jaw.
A snake can often grow more teeth as needed because teeth are sometimes lost while feeding. The teeth are hook-shaped and angle toward the throat. Poisonous snakes have either grooved or hollow fangs. Venomous snakes are at an advantage because they can inject venom into their prey, which helps to immobilize and kill them. In contrast, non-venomous snakes may need to fight to subdue their prey. Enzymes in the body operate optimally at a very particular range of temperatures and become inactive outside this range.
A cold snake does not have the energy required to stimulate its digestion. Higher temperatures are more favorable for the actions of the enzymes we were discussing before. When the food reaches the stomach, it generally sticks around for a few days. Strong digestive enzymes and stomach acid can then get to work breaking down the animal, including bones.
This is because snakes do not have the enzymes necessary to break down keratin, the substance which makes up fur and feathers.
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