Snakes are reptiles, like tortoises, turtles and lizards. Reptiles are cold-blooded animals, which means that their body temperatures change with those of their surroundings. Because they need warmth to be active, most snakes live in hot countries
Skeleton
Snakes are vertebrates and have skeletons made of bone. Snakes have no legs, however, and move by rippling the muscles on the underside of their O, % bodies. A snake’s body is supported by its many ribs.
Eggs
Most snakes lay eggs, although some give birth to live young. Unlike birds’ eggs, snakes’ eggs have flexible, leathery shellsBaby snakes have a sharp egg tooth on their snouts for breaking out of their eggs
Food
Nearly all snakes are predators that catch and eat live animals.A few specialize in eating eggs. The African egg-eating snake dislocates its jaws to swallow birds eggs three times larger than its head. The egg is swallowed whole and is punctured by sharp spines that stick down from its backbone.
Cobras
These large snakes kill their prey with venom. They inject this poisonous liquid into their victims through their hollow fangs. Cobras can easily be told apart from other snakes by the hoods that they have behind their heads. When they feel threatened, they raise themselves up and spread their hoods outwards, just like this cobra is doing.
Senses
Snakes are able to see, but their senses of smell and taste are combined. Snakes flick their tongues in and out because they can taste the air. A snake’s forked tongue can pick up particles given off by prey, and these are detected by an organ, called the Jacobson’s organ, in the roof of the mouth.
Rattlesnakes
These venomous snakes live in North, Central and South America. They have rattles on the ends of their tails, which they shake to warn off larger animals and also to prevent themselves from being trodden on. Like many snakes, they are well camouflaged, which makes it harder for other animals to see them.
Constrictor
Some snakes, such as boas and pythons, are called constrictors because they wrap themselves around their prey until it suffocates. Anacondas are constrictors from the Amazon region of South America. They reach more than 8m long.
- Are pythons snakes? Answer: Yes
- Do snakes have legs? Answer: No
- Can snakes see? Answer: Yes
- Are there any snakes that eat eggs? Answer: Yes
- Which snakes have a hood that they raise when threatened? Answer: Cobras
- Where is a rattlesnake’s rattle: in its mouth or on the end of its tail? Answer: On the and of its tail
- Are snakes vertèbrates or invertebrates? Answer: Vertebrates
- What are snakes’ skeletons made from? Answer: Bone
- Do snakes’ eggs have hard or flexible shells? Answer: Flexible shells
- Are there any snakes that give birth to live young? Answer: Yes
- Rattlesnakes live in True or false? Answer: False (they live in the Americas)
- Do cobras have solid or hollow fangs? Answer: Hollow fangs
- Do anacondas grow to over 50cm long, over 3m long or over 8m long? Answer: Over 8m long
- Does camouflage make a snake harder or easier to see?Answer: Harder to see
- What does a baby snake have on its snout to help it hatch? Answer: An ogg tooth
- Why do snakes flick their tongues in and out? Answer: To taste the air
- How do snakes move? Answer: By rippling muscles on the underside of their bodies
- How do pythons kill their prey? Answer: By constriction (squeezing)
- What does the African egg-eating snake use to break eggs? Answer: Spines sticking down from its backbone