Cool Facts About Snakes

Today lets have a look at some of the cool facts about snakes : one of the most interesting creatures to be found on earth.

- 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.

- Snakes are cold blooded with the exception of the Leatherback Sea Turtle, which can elevate its body temperature well above that of its surroundings.

- Snakes smell via their tongues : Snakes smell 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.


- Snake venom is a combination of many different proteins and enzymes.

- Snake Venom as an anti venom : 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.

- Size : While the anaconda can grow up to 38 feet in length, the brahminy blind snake is just 2 inches long, making it the smallest snake.

- Pit vipers : The pit vipers have 2 pits on either side of their mouth. These are not the nostrils as we all might expect but are a special gift to them. They are the infra red sensors which can sense a temperature difference of about 0.2 degree celsius. This helps these snakes to catch their prey.

- Teeth : Snakes have more than 200 teeth, which they do not use to chew, since they point backwards, but bite and grip their prey securely.

- There are about 2,600 different kinds of snakes. Of these, only about 400 are poisonous. Still the rest 2,200 innocuous species get killed by people just because of ignorance about the snakes.

A WORD OF CAUTION!

Many snake species are slithering unnoticed towards extinction. There are many a reasons for this but the ignorance about the snakes being the biggest one.

The snake charmers who catch the snakes and bring them out of their habitat are also a reason.

Many a snakes are being killed for their skins and and the beautiful snakes might become a thing of the past lest these practices are put in check.