Snakes or snakes (class Serpentes) are some reptiles that lack legs and yet move easily. They have a very thin body, but can eat animals much larger than them. In addition, some species have a poison so powerful that it can kill a human being. For this reason, snakes have been related to death or the devil in many cultures and have been persecuted throughout history.
Despite the myths about them, most snakes do not pose any danger to humans. On the contrary, most feed on other animals that are a serious threat to crops. Therefore, it is very important to get to know these interesting reptiles better. Don't miss this article on our site about the main characteristics of snakes, where they live and what they eat.
What are the characteristics of snakes?
Snakes or snakes (class Serpentes) belong to the clade of sauropsids, such as lizards, turtles and birds. For this reason, they have the typical characteristics of reptiles. In addition, they have other characters of their own that differentiate them as a group. In this section we show you the main characteristics of snakes.
Physical characteristics of snakes
Snakes are reptiles with elongated bodies that have no legs, so they move by crawling on the ground. It is one of the main characteristics of snakes, but how do they do it? Their body is covered by short, wide and floating vertebrae that allow them to move through rapid lateral undulations. To do this, they are propelled by exerting lateral forces against irregularities in the ground.
Thanks to their movement, snakes are very adept at running away or looking for food. They are all carnivorous and many of them can feed on animals larger than themselves. This is possible because their skull has very weak joints Also, their jaw bones are only connected by elastic ligaments. These features allow them to open their mouths wide and spread the skull bones apart while swallowing.
As in all reptiles, the body of snakes is covered by a series of very hard scales. This allows them to withstand inclement weather. The number and arrangement of the scales is used to distinguish the different types of snakes. They can even be identified by their skin or "shirt", very easy to find in the field. This is because they periodically shed their skin, that is, they shed their old skin and generate a new one.
During moulting you can also see the transparent membrane that covers the eyes and prevents them from drying out. This is because snakes don't have eyelids, so their eyes are always open. Still, sight isn't one of your most highly developed senses.
The senses of snakes
Except for some arboreal species, the eyesight of snakes is not very good. In addition, their hearing is practically nil, since they lack an external ear and a tympanic membrane. However, they are very sensitive to vibrations from the ground, so they are adept at detecting the movement of their prey. Some vipers also have thermosensitive pits on their heads. Thanks to them, they detect the heat coming from the bodies of other animals.
Their most developed sense is smell To use it, they use not only their nose, but also their tongue. When they want to investigate the environment, they stick out their forked tongue and shake it. This traps the odorous particles and directs them to an organ in the palate known as Jacobson's organ. It is a structure that detects chemical substances, among which hormones stand out.
The snakes are poisonous?
Venom is one of the most striking characteristics of snakes. Despite this, the most are not poisonous to humans, although they are to their prey.
Many snakes have a venom gland that contacts specialized teeth or fangs. These work like a kind of syringe. Its function is to kill or paralyze its prey before eating it. In this way, they can consume larger animals.
According to the presence or absence of venom and the way it is inoculated, we can distinguish several types of snakes:
- Aglyphous Serpents: they do not have specialized teeth for injecting venom. Some species may have a slightly poisonous saliva, but they are harmless to humans. We talk a little more about them in this article on Types of non-venomous snakes.
- Opisthoglyphic snakes: they have a pair of fangs on the back of the upper jaw. They are connected to the venom gland and have an open groove through which the venom descends. Their venom is usually harmless to humans, so many species are not considered poisonous.
- Proteroglyphic Serpents: Their fangs are located in the anterior part of the upper jaw. They have a more closed furrow than the previous ones, so they are more efficient at killing or sleeping their prey. Some have a very powerful poison. Still, they have to spend a lot of time inoculating it.
- Solenoglyphic snakes: they have hollow fangs that are located in the front part of the upper jaw. The poison runs through the fang and is injected into the prey with the first bite. Many of the snakes that are poisonous to humans are found in this group.
Within the characteristics of snakes, those that have to do with their reproduction are very peculiar. To learn about them, we recommend you read this other article on How snakes reproduce. If you want to know where they live and what they eat, read on!
Where Do Snakes Live?
Snakes are distributed throughout the world, although they are much more abundant in warm or moderate climates. In all places, the competition for the available habitat has caused its adaptation to very different places. In this way, we find several types of snakes:
- Terrestrial.
- Arboreal.
- Aquatic.
- Marinas.
Land Serpents
Many snakes live on the surface of the earth, hidden between rocks or vegetation Some live in tunnels, usually pre-built by small mammals or other animals. They are also very common in the stone walls that humans build around agricultural plots.
Most terrestrial snakes have cryptic colors that blend in with the environment Snakes that live in arid places are brown. An example is the desert horned viper (Cerastes cerastes), which blends in with the sand. The viper aspid (Vipera aspid), however, usually lives in rocky areas, so it has gray colors.
Many land snakes are burrowers and live underground. This is the case of most snakes of the Atractaspidinae family. Coral snakes (Micrurus spp.) also hide underground or in leaf litter, making them difficult to see despite their conspicuous appearance. This poisonous snake does not camouflage itself, but instead has a very striking color pattern that warns predators of its toxicity. It is a case of animal aposematism.
Tree Snakes
The snakes that inhabit forests do not usually live on the ground, but in the trees. In this way, they not only protect themselves from their predators, but also take advantage of the height to hunt. Most tree snakes are green or brown. For example, the green bejuquilla (Oxybelis fulgidus) is bright green and its body is divided longitudinally. Because of this, it is easy to confuse it with the leaves of the trees it inhabits.
If you want to know more about camouflage or crypsis, don't miss this article on Animal Mimicry.
Water Snakes
Some snakes have adapted to life in rivers or lakes A curious example is the viper snake (Natrix maura), a nonvenomous aquatic snake that takes on the appearance of a viper when disturbed. To do this, it flattens its head, which takes on a triangular shape, and shows the drawings on its back. These are similar to those of the vipers present in Spain and France, the countries in which it lives.
Sea Serpents
Very few snakes have adapted to life in the sea. This is the case of the Hydrophiinae subfamily, poisonous snakes known as sea snakes. Due to their adaptation to living in the seas, they have a tail adapted to swimming. Many have a somewhat flattened body, as occurs in fish. They normally inhabit corals or rocky areas, where they hide and camouflage. Perhaps the best example is Aipysurus laevis, an inhabitant of Indo-Pacific corals.
What do snakes eat?
All snakes are carnivorous and voracious predators It is, perhaps, the best known among the characteristics of snakes. These reptiles hunt other animals and feed on them. Due to their enormous diversity, both in their size and in their hunting method, the feeding of snakes depends on each species. Its most frequent prey are the following:
- Small and/or medium-sized mammals.
- Lizards and lizards.
- Birds.
- Invertebrates.
- Amphibians.
- Fish (in water snakes).
How do snakes hunt?
Venomous snakes, such as vipers (Viperidae), can feed on larger animals. This is because the venom is used to paralyze or kill their prey before they begin to swallow it. In this way, they can spend a lot of time consuming them, so they catch everything that fits in their mouth. Still, the size of the prey they can consume depends on the potency of their poison.
As for non-venomous snakes, like most garter snakes (Colubridae), they consume their prey immediately after catching it. For this reason, they do not usually hunt very large animals. Their diet is limited to small mammals, lizards and invertebrates. Those that have rear fangs use them to quiet their prey while they gobble it up. Therefore, the size of their prey does not usually reach a large size either.
Some non-venomous snakes use other hunting techniques. One example is boas (Boidae), which stalk their prey before strangling it Due to their powerful muscles, larger boas can consume animals as large as deer or leopards. However, smaller boas eat smaller animals such as birds, lizards, and even invertebrates.
