World Snake Day – 16th July
World Snake Day – 16th July
World Snake Day is an important day when it comes to increasing awareness about the different species of snakes all around the world.
There are about 3,458 species of snakes identified up to now and they are found everywhereexcept in Antarctica, Iceland, Ireland, Greenland, and New Zealand. Most species live on land.
Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes. Like all other scaled reptiles, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales which serve several purposes, including trap moisture in arid climates and reduce fiction as snake moves etc.Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints than their lizard ancestors, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads. Snakes also have forked tongues, which split in to two distinct lines at the top and allows them to sense the direction of smell. To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes’ paired organs such as kidneys appear one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most have only one functional lung. Some species retain a pelvic girdle with a pair of vestigial claws on either side of the cloaca. About once a month snake shed their skin, a process called ecdysis that makes room for growth and gets rid of para…Most species lay eggs, but some species like Sea snakes, give birth to young.
All snakes are strictly carnivorous, preying on small animals including lizards, frogs, other snakes, small mammals, birds, eggs, fish, snails, worms, and insects. Snakes cannot bite or tear their food to pieces, must swallow their prey whole. The eating habits of a snake are largely influenced by body size as smaller snakes eat smaller prey. Juvenile pythons might start out feeding on lizards or mice and graduate to small deer or antelope as an adult.
Snake venom is a highly toxic saliva containing zootoxins that facilitates in the immobilization and digestion of prey. There are about 700 species of front-fang venomous snakes belong to the families viperidae and elapidae. There are an additional 1800 rear fanged species which belong to the family colubridae.
Snake populations are in decline because of habitat destruction, disease, over-harvesting, invasive species, and even climate change. There are roughly a hundred species listed by the IUCN red list as endangered.
– Source: Internet –