Snake

For other uses, see Snake (disambiguation).

Snakes Fossil range: Cretaceous - Recent
Spotted Python Antaresia maculosa
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Subphylum: Vertebrata Class: Sauropsida Subclass: Diapsida Infraclass: Lepidosauromorpha Superorder: Lepidosauria Order: Squamata Suborder: Serpentes Linnaeus, 1758
Infraorders and Families
Alethinophidia - Nopcsa, 1923 Acrochordidae- Bonaparte, 1831 Aniliidae - Stejneger, 1907 Anomochilidae - Cundall, Wallach & Rossman, 1993 Atractaspididae - Günther, 1858 Boidae - Gray, 1825 Bolyeriidae - Hoffstetter, 1946 Colubridae - Oppel, 1811 Cylindrophiidae - Fitzinger, 1843 Elapidae - F. Boie, 1827 Loxocemidae - Cope, 1861 Pythonidae - Fitzinger, 1826 Tropidophiidae - Brongersma, 1951 Uropeltidae - Müller, 1832 Viperidae - Oppel, 1811 Xenopeltidae - Bonaparte, 1845 Scolecophidia - Cope, 1864 Anomalepididae - Taylor, 1939 Leptotyphlopidae - Stejneger, 1892 Typhlopidae - Merrem, 1820

A snake is a scaled, limbless, elongate, carnivorous reptile. Snakes make up the entire suborder Serpentes, alongside lizards in the order Squamata (Latin: "scaled") in Linnean taxonomy. The 2,900 species of snakes spread across every continent except Antarctica. They range in size from the tiny thread snake to pythons and anacondas over 10 meters long. In order to accommodate snakes' narrow bodies, paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one in front of the other instead of side by side. A snake has only one lung functional for breathing. Snakes lack external ears. All snakes are strict carnivores.

Of the twenty biological families of snakes, two are venomous with some venomous members found in a third family. Although the majority of venomous snakes are small innocuous creatures, many are capable of causing painful injury or death to humans. Venom in snakes, however is more for killing and subduing prey than it is for self-defense.

Snakes may have evolved from a lizard which adapted to burrowing during the Cretaceous period (c 150 Ma). The diversity of modern snakes appeared during the Paleocene period (c 66 to 56 Ma).

A literary word for snake is serpent (a Middle English word which comes from Old French, and ultimately from *serp-, "to creep"). In modern usage, the term serpent usually refers to a mythic or symbolic snake. In Christianity, the serpent is often identified with the devil, as in the Biblical account of Adam and Eve.

Taxonomy

Snakes are categorized in the order Squamata within the entire suborder Serpentes in Linnean taxonomy. There are two infraorders of Serpentes: Alethinophidia and Scolecophidia. This separation is based primarily on morphological characteristics between family groups and mitochondrial DNA.

As with most taxonomic classifications, there are different interpretations of the evolutionary relationships. These include moving of families to different infraorders, merging or splitting of the infraorders and merging and splitting of the families. For instance, many sources classify Boidae and Pythonidae as the same family, or keep others, such as Elapidae and Hydrophiidae, separate for practical reasons despite their extremely close relation.

colspan="100%" align="center" bgcolor="#BBBBFF"	Alethinophidia 15 families
Family	Common Names	Example Species	Example Photo
Acrochordidae Bonaparte, 1831	file snakes	Marine File Snake (Acrochordus granulatus)
Aniliidae Stejneger, 1907	coral pipe snakes	Burrowing False Coral (Anilius scytale)
Anomochilidae Cundall, Wallach and Rossman, 1993	dwarf pipe snakes	Leonard's Pipe Snake, (Anomochilus leonardi)
Atractaspididae Günther, 1858	mole vipers	Stiletto Snake (Atractaspis bibroni)
Boidae Gray, 1825	boas	Amazon tree boa (Corallus hortulanus)
Bolyeridae Hoffstetter, 1946	round island boas	Round Island Burrowing Boa (Bolyeria multocarinata)
Colubridae Oppel, 1811	colubrids	Grass Snake (Natrix natrix)
Cylindrophiidae Fitzinger, 1843	Asian pipe snakes	Red-tailed Pipe Snake (Cylindrophis ruffus)
Elapidae Boie, 1827	cobras, coral snakes, mambas, kraits, sea snakes, sea kraits, Australian elapids	King Cobra (Ophiophagus hannah)
Loxocemidae Cope, 1861	Mexican burrowing snakes	Mexican burrowing snake (Loxocemus bicolor)
Pythonidae Fitzinger, 1826	pythons	Ball python (Python regius)
Tropidophiidae Brongersma, 1951	dwarf boas	Northern Eyelash Boa (Trachyboa boulengeri)
Uropeltidae Müller, 1832	shield-tailed snakes, short-tailed snakes	Ocellated Shield-tail (Uropeltis ocellatus)
Viperidae Oppel, 1811	vipers, pitvipers, rattlesnakes	European asp (Vipera aspis)	100px
Xenopeltidae Bonaparte, 1845	sunbeam snakes	Sunbeam snake (Xenopeltis unicolor)
colspan="100%" align="center" bgcolor="#BBBBFF"	Scolecophidia 3 families
Family	Common Names	Example Species	Example Photo
Anomalepidae Taylor, 1939	dawn blind snakes	Dawn Blind Snake (Liotyphlops beui)	100px
Leptotyphlopidae Stejneger, 1892	slender blind snakes	Texas Blind Snake (Leptotyphlops dulcis)
Typhlopidae Merrem, 1820	blind snakes	Black Blind Snake (Typhlops reticulatus)	100px

Evolution

Phylogeny of snakes is poorly known because snake skeletons are typically small and fragile, making fossilization uncommon. However 150 million year old specimens readily definable as snakes with lizard-like skeletal structures have been uncovered in South America and Africa. It has been agreed, on the basis of morphology, that snakes descended from lizard-like ancestors.

Fossil evidence suggests that snakes may have evolved from burrowing lizards, such as varanids or a similar group during the Cretaceous Period. An early fossil snake, Najash rionegrina, was a two-legged burrowing animal with a sacrum, and was fully terrestrial. One extant analog of these putative ancestors is the earless monitor Lanthanotus of Borneo, although it also is semi-aquatic. As these ancestors became more subterranean, they lost their limbs and their bodies became more streamlined for burrowing. According to this hypothesis, features such as the transparent, fused eyelids (brille) and loss of external ears evolved to combat subterranean conditions such as scratched corneas and dirt in the ears with snakes re-emerged onto the surface of the earth much as they are today. Other primitive snakes are known to have possessed hindlimbs but lacked a direct connection of the pelvic bones to the vertebrae, including Haasiophis, Pachyrhachis and Eupodophis) which are slightly older than Najash.

Texas Coral Snake Micrurus tener

Primitive groups among the modern snakes, pythons and boas, have vestigial hind limbs: tiny, clawed digits known as anal spurs which are used to grasp during mating. Leptotyphlopidae and Typhlopidae are other examples where remnants of the pelvic girdle are still present, sometimes appearing as horny projections when visible. The frontal limbs in all snakes are non-existent because of the evolution of the Hox genes in this area. The axial skeleton of the snakes' common ancestor had like most other tetrapods the familiar regional specializations consisting of cervical (neck), thoracic (chest), lumbar (lower back), sacral (pelvic) and caudal (tail) vertebrae. The Hox gene expression in the axial skeleton responsible for the development of the thorax became dominant early in snake evolution and as a result, the vertebrae anterior to the hindlimb buds (when present) all have the same thoracic-like identity (except from the atlas, axis and 1-3 neck vertebrae), making most of the snake's skeleton being composed of an extremely extended thorax. Ribs are found exclusively on the thoracic vertebrae. The neck, lumbar and pelvic vertebrae are very reduced in number (only 2-10 lumbar and pelvic vertebrae are still present), while only a short tail remains of the caudal vertebrae, although the tail is still long enough to be of good use in many species, and is modified in some aquatic and tree dwelling species.

An alternative hypothesis, based on morphology, suggests that the ancestors of snakes were related to mosasaurs — extinct aquatic reptiles from the Cretaceous — which in turn are thought to have derived from varanid lizards. Under this hypothesis, the fused, transparent eyelids of snakes are thought to have evolved to combat marine conditions (corneal water loss through osmosis), while the external ears were lost through disuse in an aquatic environment, ultimately leading to an animal similar in appearance to sea snakes of today. In the Late Cretaceous, snakes re-colonized the land much like they are today. Fossil snake remains are known from early Late Cretaceous marine sediments, which is consistent with this hypothesis, particularly as they are older than the terrestrial Najash rionegrina. Similar skull structure; reduced/absent limbs; and other anatomical features found in both mosasaurs and snakes lead to a positive cladistical correlation, although some of these features are shared with varanids. In recent years, genetic studies have indicated that snakes are not as closely related to monitor lizards as it was once believed, and therefore not to mosasaurs, the proposed ancestor in the aquatic scenario of their evolution. However, there is more evidence linking mosasaurs to snakes than to varanids. Fragmentary remains that have been found from the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous indicate deeper fossil records for these groups, which may eventually refute either hypothesis.

The great diversity of modern snakes appeared in the Paleocene, correlating with the adaptive radiation of mammals following the extinction of the dinosaurs. There are over 2,900 species of snakes ranging as far northward as the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia and southward through Australia and Tasmania. Snakes can be found on every continent with the exception of Antarctica dwelling in the sea and as high as 16,000 feet (4900m)in the Himalayan Mountains of Asia. There are numerous islands from which snakes are conspicuously absent such as Ireland, Iceland, and New Zealand.

Digestion and diet

Snake eating a rat

All snakes are strictly carnivorous, eating small animals including lizards, other snakes, small mammals, birds, eggs, fish, snails or insects.

Some snakes have a venomous bite, which they use to kill their prey before eating it. Other snakes kill their prey by constriction. Still others swallow their prey whole and alive. Pareas iwesakii and other snail-eating Colubrids of subfamily Pareatinae have more teeth on the right side of their mouths than on the left, as the shells of their prey usually spiral clockwise

African Egg-eating Snake

Snakes do not chew their food and have a very flexible lower jaw, the two halves of which are not rigidly attached, and numerous other joints in their skull (see snake skull), allowing them to open their mouths wide enough to swallow their prey whole, even if it is larger in diameter than the snake itself. The African Egg-eating Snake has flexible jaws adapted for eating eggs much larger than the diameter of its head. This snake has no teeth, but does have bony protrusions on the inside edge of its spine which are used to aid in breaking the shells of the eggs it eats.

After eating, snakes become torpid while the process of digestion takes place. Digestion is an intense activity, especially after the consumption of very large prey. In species that feed only sporadically, the entire intestine enters a reduced state between meals to conserve energy, and the digestive system is 'up-regulated' to full capacity within 48 hours of prey consumption. Being ectothermic or cold blooded, the surrounding temperature plays a large role in a snakes digestion. 30 degrees celsius is the ideal temperature for snakes to digest their food. So much metabolic energy is involved in digestion that in Crotalus durissus, the Mexican rattlesnake, an increase of body temperature to as much as 14 degrees Celsius above the surrounding environment has been observed. Because of this, a snake disturbed after having eaten recently will often regurgitate its prey in order to be able to escape the perceived threat. However, when undisturbed, the digestive process is highly efficient, dissolving and absorbing everything but hair and claws, which are excreted along with uric acid waste. Snakes have been known to die from trying to swallow an animal that is too big.

Skin

A snake shedding its skin

A line diagram from G.A. Boulenger's Fauna of British India (1890) illustrating the terminology of shields on the head of a snake

The skin of a snake is covered in scales. Contrary to the popular notion of snakes being slimy because of possible confusion of snakes with worms, snakeskin has a smooth, dry texture. Most snakes use specialized belly scales to travel, gripping surfaces. The body scales may be smooth, keeled, or granular. Snake's eyelids are transparent "spectacle" scales which remain permanently closed, also known as brille.

The shedding of scales is called ecdysis, or, in normal usage moulting or sloughing. In the case of snakes, the complete outer layer of skin is shed in one layer. Snake scales are not discrete but extensions of the epidermis hence they are not shed separately, but are ejected as a complete contiguous outer layer of skin during each moult, akin to a sock being turned inside out.

Moulting serves a number of functions - firstly, the old and worn skin is replaced, secondly, it helps get rid of parasites such as mites and ticks. Renewal of the skin by moulting is supposed to allow growth in some animals such as insects, however this view has been disputed in the case of snakes.

Moulting is repeated periodically throughout a snake's life. Before a moult, the snake stops eating and often hides or moves to a safe place. Just prior to shedding, the skin becomes dull and dry looking and the eyes become cloudy or blue-colored. The inner surface of the old outer skin liquefies. This causes the old outer skin to separate from the new inner skin. After a few days, the eyes clear and the snake "crawls" out of its old skin. The old skin breaks near the mouth and the snake wriggles out aided by rubbing against rough surfaces. In many cases the cast skin peels backward over the body from head to tail, in one piece like an old sock. A new, larger, and brighter layer of skin has formed underneath.

An older snake may shed its skin only once or twice a year, but a younger, still-growing snake, may shed up to four times a year. The discarded skin gives a perfect imprint of the scale pattern and it is usually possible to identify the snake if this discard is reasonably complete and intact. Although the primary purpose of shedding is for the snake's growth; it also removes external parasites. This periodic renewal has led to the snake being a symbol of healing and medicine, as pictured in the Rod of Asclepius.

The shape and number of scales on the head, back and belly are characteristic to family, genus and species. Scales have a nomenclature analogous to the position on the body. In "advanced" (Caenophidian) snakes, the broad belly scales and rows of dorsal scales correspond to the vertebrae, allowing scientists to count the vertebrae without dissection.

Scalation counts are also used to tell the sex of a snake when the species is not readily sexually dimorphic. A probe is inserted into the cloaca until it can go no further. The probe is marked at the point where it stops, removed, and compared to the subcaudal depth by laying it alongside the scales. The scalation count determines whether the snake is a male or female as hemipenes of a male will probe to a different depth (usually shorter) than the cloaca of a female.

Perception

Thermographic image of a snake eating a mouse.

While snake vision is unremarkable (generally being best in arboreal species and worst in burrowing species), it is able to detect movement. Some snakes, like the Asian vine snake (genus Ahaetulla), have binocular vision. In most snakes, the lens moves back and forth within the eyeball to focus; snakes focus by moving the lens in relation to the retina. In addition to their eyes, some snakes (pit vipers, pythons, and some boas) have infrared-sensitive receptors in deep grooves between the nostril and eye, although some have labial pits on their upper lip just below the nostrils(common in pythons) which allow them to "see" the radiated heat.

A snake smells by using its forked tongue to collect airborne particles then passing them to the Jacobson's organ or the Vomeronasal organ in the mouth for examination. The fork in the tongue gives the snake a sort of directional sense of smell and taste simultaneously. The snake keeps its tongue constantly in motion, sampling particles from the air, ground, and water analyzing the chemicals found and determining the presence of prey or predators in its local environment.

The part of the body which is in direct contact with the surface of the ground is very sensitive to vibration, thus a snake is able to sense other animals approaching through detecting faint vibrations in the air and on the ground.

Internal organs

The vestigial left lung is often small or sometimes even absent, as snakes' tubular bodies require all of their organs to be long and thin. In the majority of species, only one lung is functional. This lung contains a vascularized anterior portion and a posterior portion which does not function in gas exchange. This 'saccular lung' is used for hydrostatic purposes to adjust buoyancy in some aquatic snakes and its function remains unknown in terrestrial species. Many organs that are paired, such as kidneys or reproductive organs, are staggered within the body, with one located ahead of the other. Snakes have no colenary bladder or lymph nodes.

As with all reptiles, snakes have a three-chambered heart composed of two atria and one large ventricle. Although more evolutionary basic than the mammalian four-chambered heart, it functions in a similar manner because of divisions and valves within the ventricle. The cardiovascular system of snakes is also unique due to the presence of a renal portal system in which the blood from the snake's tail passes through the kidneys before returning to the heart.

Locomotion

Snakes use various methods to move on land or in water.

Lateral undulation is the sole mode of aquatic locomotion, and the most common mode of terrestrial locomotion. In this mode, the body of the snake alternately flexes to the left and right, resulting in a series of rearward-moving 'waves'. When swimming, the waves become larger as they move down the snake's body, and the wave travels backwards faster than the snake moves forwards. This contrasts with terrestrial lateral undulation, in which the wave speed is precisely the same as the snake speed, and as a result, every point on the snake's body follows the path of the point ahead of it, allowing snakes to move though very dense vegetation and small openings. In aquatic lateral undulation, snakes generate forward thrust by pushing their body against the water, resulting in the observed slip, while in terrestrial lateral undulation, thrust is generated by pushing against irregularities in the substrate such as pebbles and grass, resulting in 'path following'. In spite of overall similarities, studies show that the pattern of muscle activation is substantially different in aquatic vs terrestrial lateral undulation, which justifies calling them separate modes. All snakes can laterally undulate forwards (with backward-moving waves), but only sea snakes have been observed reversing the pattern, i.e. moving backwards via forward-traveling waves.

File:CrolatusScutulatusSidewindingSnake.jpg

Mojave rattlesnake, sidewinding

When the snake must move in an environment which lacks any irregulaties to push against, such as a slick mud flat or sand dune, colubroid snakes (colubrids, elapids, and vipers) usually employ sidewinding. Most common in short, stocky snakes, sidewinding is a modified form of lateral undulation in which all of the body segments oriented in one direction remain in contact with the ground, while the other segments are lifted up, resulting in a peculiar 'rolling' motion. Contrary to some sources, there is no evidence that sidewinding is associated with hot sand. Boas and pythons have never been observed sidewinding.

Both sidewinding and lateral undulation require substantial space, but some environments, such as tunnels, have very limited space and in these instances snakes reky on concertina locomotion. In this mode, the snake braces the posterior portion of its body against the tunnel wall while the front of the snake extends and straightens. The front portion then flexes and forms an anchor point, and the posterior is straightened and pulled forwards.

The slowest mode of snake locomotion is rectilinear locomotion, which is also the only one in which the snake does not bend its body laterally. In this mode, the belly scales are lifted and pulled forward before being placed down and the body pulled over them. Waves of movement and stasis pass posteriorly, resulting in a series of ripples in the skin. In spite of appearances, the ribs do not move in this mode of locomotion and this method is most often used by large pythons, boas, and pit vipers when creeping up to prey across open ground as the sankes movements are subtle and harder to detect in this manner.

The movement of snakes in arboreal habitats has only recently been studied. Gliding snakes (Chrysopelea) of Southeast Asia launch themselves from branch tips, spread their ribs and laterally undulate as they glide between trees; these snakes are even capable of executing sharp turns in mid-air. While on the branches, snakes use several modes of locomotion depending on species and bark texture.

Reproduction

Although a wide range of reproductive modes are used by snakes; all snakes employ internal fertilization, accomplished by means of paired, forked hemipenes, which are stored inverted in the male's tail. The hemipenes are often grooved, hooked, or spined in order to grip the walls of the female's cloaca.

Most species of snake lay eggs, and most of those species abandon them shortly after laying; however, individual species such as the King cobra actually construct nests and stay in the vicinity of the hatchlings after incubation. Most pythons coil around their egg-clutches after they have laid them and remain with the eggs until they hatch. The female python will not leave the eggs, except to occasionally bask in the sun or drink water and will generate heat to incubate the eggs by shivering.

Some species of snake are ovoviviparous and retain the eggs within their bodies until they are almost ready to hatch. Recently, it has been confirmed that several species of snake are fully viviparous, such as the boa constrictor and green anaconda, nourishing their young through a placenta as well as a yolk sac, which is highly unusual among reptiles, or anything else outside of placental mammals. Retention of eggs and live birth are most often associated with colder environments, as the retention of the young within the female.

Venom

Vipera berus, one fang with a small venom stain in glove, the other still in place

A venomous snake is a snake that uses modified saliva known as venom, delivered through fangs in its mouth, to immobilize or kill its prey. The fangs of 'advanced' venomous snakes like vipers and elapids are hollow in order to inject venom more effectively, while the fangs of rear-fanged snakes such as the Boomslang merely have a groove on the posterior edge to channel venom into the wound. Snake venoms are often prey specific, its role in self-defense is secondary. Venom, like all salivary secretions, is a pre-digestant which initiates the breakdown of food into soluble compounds allowing for proper digestion and even "non-venomous" snake bites (like any animal bite) will cause tissue damage.

Certain birds, mammals, and other snakes such as kingsnakes that prey on venomous snakes have developed resistance and even immunity to certain venom. Venomous snakes include three families of snakes and do not constitute a formal classification group used in taxonomy. The term poisonous snake is mostly incorrect - poison is inhaled or ingested whereas venom is injected. There are, however, two examples - Rhabdophis sequesters toxins from the toads it eats then secretes them from nuchal glands to ward off predators, and a small population of garter snakes in Oregon retains enough toxin in their liver from the newts they eat to be effectively poisonous to local small predators such as crows and foxes.

Snake venoms are complex mixtures of proteins and are stored in poison glands at the back of the head. In all venomous snakes these glands open through ducts into grooved or hollow teeth in the upper jaw. These proteins can potentially be a mix of neurotoxins (which attack the nervous system), hemotoxins (which attack the circulatory system), cytotoxins, bungarotoxins and many other toxins that affect the body in different ways. Almost all snake venom contains hyaluronidase, an enzyme that ensures rapid diffusion of the venom.

Venomous snakes that use hemotoxins usually have the fangs that secrete the venom in the front of their mouths, making it easier for them to inject the venom into their victims. Some snakes that use neurotoxins, such as the mangrove snake, have their fangs located in the back of their mouths, with the fangs curled backwards. This makes it both difficult for the snake to use its venom and for scientists to milk them. Elapid snakes, however, such as cobras and kraits are proteroglyphous, possessing hollow fangs which cannot be erected toward the front of their mouths and cannot "stab" like a viper, they must actually bite the victim.

It has recently been suggested that all snakes may be venomous to a certain degree. Snakes may have evolved from a common lizard ancestor that was venomous, from which venomous lizards like the gila monster and beaded lizard may have also derived. This hypothesis suggests that all snakes have venom glands, even species thought totally harmless such as the Corn Snake, commonly kept as a pet. What differentiates 'venomous' from 'non-venomous' is the evolution of a venom delivery system, the most advanced being that of vipers, with fangs that are hinged to prevent self envenomation, curling out only when the snake strikes.

Venomous snakes are classified in two taxonomic families:

• Elapids - cobras including king cobras, kraits, mambas, Australian copperheads, sea snakes, and coral snakes.
• Viperids - vipers, rattlesnakes, copperheads/cottonmouths, adders and bushmasters.

There is a third family containing the opistoglyphous (rear-fanged)snakes as well as the majority of other snake species:

• Colubrids - boomslangs, tree snakes, vine snakes, mangrove snakes, although not all colubrids are venomous.

Interactions with humans

Snake bite

Coiled up Green tree python Morelia viridis

Snakes do not ordinarily prey on humans and most will not attack humans unless the snake is startled or injured, preferring instead to avoid contact. With the exception of large constrictors, non-venomous snakes are not a threat to humans. The bite of non-venomous snakes are usually harmless because their teeth are designed for grabbing and holding, rather than tearing or inflicting a deep puncture wound. Although the possibility of an infection and tissue damage is present in the bite of a non-venomous snake; venomous snakes present far greater hazard to humans.

Documented deaths resulting from snake bites are uncommon. Non-fatal bites from venomous snakes may result in the need for amputation of a limb or part thereof. Of the roughly 725 species of venomous snakes worldwide, only 250 species that are able to kill a human with one bite. Although Australia is home to the largest number of venomous snakes in the world, about one snakebite proves venomous, on average, in a year; in India where 250,000 snakebites are recorded in a single year, as many as 50,000 initial deaths are recorded.

The treatment for snakebite is as variable as the bite, itself. The most common and effective method is through antivenin, a serum made from the venom of the snake, itself. Some antivenom is species specific or monovalent and some is made for use with multiple species in mind also known as polyvalent. In the United States for example, all species of venomous snakes are pit vipers, with the exception of the coral snake. To produce antivenin, a mixture of the venoms of the different species of rattlesnakes, copperheads, and cottonmouths is injected into the body of a horse in ever-increasing dosages until the horse is immunized. Blood is then extracted from the immunized horse and freeze-dried. It is reconstituted with sterile water and becomes antivenin. For this reason, people who are allergic to horses cannot be treated using anivenin. Antivenin for the more dangerous species (such as mambas, taipans, and cobras) is made in a similar manner in India, South Africa, and Australia with the exception being that those antivenins are species-specific.

Snake charmers

Cobra in a basket

In some parts of the world, especially in India and Pakistan, snake charming is a roadside show performed by a charmer. In this, the snake charmer carries a basket that contains a snake which he seemingly charms by playing tunes from his flute-like musical instrument, to which the snake responds. Snakes lack external ears, though have internal ears. However, snakes show no tendency to be influenced by music.

Researchers have pointed out that many of these snake charmers are good sleight-of-hand artists. The snake moves corresponding to the flute movement and the vibrations from the tapping of the charmer's foot which is not noticed by the public. They rarely catch their snakes and the snakes are either nonvenomous or defanged cobras. Sometimes these people exploit the fear of snakes by releasing snakes into the neighbourhood and then offering to rid the residence of snakes. Other snake charmers also have a snake and mongoose show, where both the animals have a mock fight; however, this is not very common, as the snakes, as well as the mongooses, may be seriously injured or killed.

Snake charming as a profession is now discouraged in India as a contribution to forest and snake conservation. In fact in some places in India snake charming is banned by law.

Snake trapping

The tribals of "Irulas" from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in India have been hunter-gatherers in the hot dry plains forests and have practiced this art for generations. They have a vast knowledge of snakes in the field. Irulas generally catch the snakes with the help of a simple stick. Earlier, the Irulas caught thousands of snakes for the snake-skin industry. After the complete ban on snake-skin industry in India and protection of all snakes under the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, they formed the Irula Snake Catcher's Cooperative and switched to catching snakes for removal of venom, releasing them in the wild after four extractions. The venom so collected is used for producing life-saving antivenin, biomedical research and for other medicinal products. The Irulas are also known to eat some of the snakes they catch and are very useful in rat extermination in the villages.

Despite the existence of snake charmers, there have also been professional snake catchers or wranglers. Modern day snake trapping involves a herpetologist using a long stick with a "V" shaped end. Some like Steve Irwin, Bill Haast, Joel La Rocque, Austin Stevens, and Jeff Corwin prefer to catch them using bare hands.

Consumption of snakes

In some cultures, the consumption of snakes is acceptable, or even considered a delicacy, prized for its alleged pharmaceutical effect of warming the heart. Western cultures document the consumption of snakes under extreme circumstances of hunger. Cooked rattlesnake meat is an exception, which is commonly consumed in the Western United States and referred to as "Prairie Chicken". In Asian countries such as Thailand,Indonesia, and Cambodia, drinking the blood of snakes, particularly the cobra, is believed to increase sexual virility. The blood is drained while the cobra is still alive when possible, and is usually mixed with some form of liquor to improve the taste.

In some Asian countries, the use of snakes in alcohol is also accepted. In such cases, the body of a snake or several snakes is left to steep in a jar or container of liquor. It is claimed that this makes the liquor stronger (as well as more expensive). One example of this is the Habu snake sometimes placed in the Okinawan liquor Awamori also known as "Habu Sake".

Symbolism

Image:Medusa by 16th Century Italian artist Caravaggio

Rod of Asclepius, in which the snakes, through ecdysis, symbolise healing.

In Egyptian history, the snake occupies a primary role with the Nile cobra adorning the crown of the pharaoh in ancient times. It was worshipped as one of the gods and was also used for sinister purposes: murder of an adversary and ritual suicide (Cleopatra).

In Greek mythology snakes are often associated with deadly and dangerous antagonists, but this is not to say that snakes are symbolic of evil; in fact, snakes are a cthonic symbol, roughly translated as 'earthbound'. The nine-headed Lernaean Hydra that Hercules defeated and the three Gorgon sisters are children of Gaia, the earth. Medusa was one of the three Gorgon sisters who Perseus defeated. Medusa is described as a hideous mortal, with snakes instead of hair and the power to turn men to stone with her gaze. After killing her, Perseus gave her head to Athena who fixed it to her shield called the Aegis. The Titans are also depicted in art with snakes instead of legs and feet for the same reason—they are children of Gaia and Ouranos (Uranus), so they are bound to the earth.

Three medical symbols involving snakes that are still used today are Bowl of Hygieia, symbolizing pharmacy, and the Caduceus and Rod of Asclepius, which are symbols denoting medicine in general.

India is often called the land of snakes and is steeped in tradition regarding snakes. Snakes are worshipped as gods even today with many women pouring milk on snake pits (despite snakes' aversion for milk). The cobra is seen on the neck of Shiva and Vishnu is depicted often as sleeping on a 7 headed snake or within the coils of a serpent. There are also several temples in India solely for cobras sometimes called Nagraj (King of Snakes) and it is believed that snakes are symbols of fertility. There is a Hindu festival called Nag Panchami each year on which day snakes are venerated and prayed to. See also Nāga.

In Islam, Christianity and Judaism the snake makes its infamous appearance in the first book (Genesis 3:1) of the Bible when a serpent appears before the first couple Adam and Eve as an agent of the devil and tempts them with the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Life. The snake returns in Exodus when Moses, as a sign of God's power, turns his staff into a snake; snakes are similarly produced by the pharaoh's magic-practicing priests, but Moses's snake devours them. Later Moses made Nehushtan, a bronze snake on a pole that when looked at cured the people of bites from the snakes that plagued them in the desert. Christianity believes this to be a symbol of Jesus Christ, in His quality of being the Redeemer: And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: (John 3:14). Elsewhere Jesus Christ instructed his disciples to be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves (Matthew 10:16). The serpent makes its final appearance symbolizing Satan in the Book of Revelation:"And he laid hold on the dragon the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years." (Revelation 20:2).

The Ouroboros is a symbol that is associated with many different religions and customs, and is also claimed to be related to Alchemy. The Ouroboros or Oroboros is a snake eating its own tail in a clock-wise direction (from the head to the tail) in the shape of a circle, representing manifestation of one's own life and rebirth, leading to immortality.

The snake is one of the 12 celestial animals of Chinese Zodiac, in the Chinese calendar.

Many ancient Peruvian cultures worshipped nature. They placed emphasis on animals and often depicted snakes in their art.

See also

File:SnakesCupisnique200BC.jpg

Cupisnique Snake. 200 B.C.Larco Museum Collection Lima, Peru.

Snakes

• Snake skeleton
• Harmful snakes
• List of snakes
• List of Serpentes families
• Limbless vertebrates

Snakes in culture

• Snakebot
• Snake-arm robot
• Snake oil
• Exploding snake
• Snake Shyam
• Snakes on a Plane
• Serpent Mound

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Serpentes (TSN 174118). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Accessed on 6 December 2007.
• Bebler, John L. (1979). The Audubon Society Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of North America. Alfred A. Knopf, 581. ISBN 0394508246. 
• Bullfinch, Thomas (2000). Bullfinch's Complete Mythology. London: Chancellor Press, 679. ISBN 0753703815. 
• Capula, Massimo and Behler (1989). Simon & Schuster's Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of the World. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0671690981. 
• Coborn, John (1991). The Atlas of Snakes of the World. New Jersey: TFH Publications. 
• Cogger, Harold (1992). Reptiles & Amphibians. Sydney, Australia: Weldon Owen. ISBN 0831727861. 
• Conant, Roger (1991). A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians Eastern/Central North America. Boston, Massachusets: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0395583896. 
• Deane, John (1833). The Worship of the Serpent. Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger Publishing, 412. ISBN 1564598985. 
• Ditmars, Raymond L (1906). Poisonous Snakes of the United States: How to Distinguish Them. New York: E. R. Sanborn, 11. 
• Ditmars, Raymond L (1931). Snakes of the World. New York: Macmillian, 11. ISBN 978-0025317307. 
• Ditmars, Raymond L (1933). Reptiles of the World: The Crocodilians, Lizards, Snakes, Turtles and Tortoises of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. New York: Macmillian, 321. 
• Ditmars, Raymond L (1935). Snake-Hunters' Holiday.. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 309. 
• Ditmars, Raymond L (1939). A Field Book of North American Snakes. Garden City,New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co, 305. 
• Freiberg, Dr. Marcos (1984). The World of Venomous Animals. New Jersey: TFH Publications. ISBN 0876665679. 
• Gibbons, J. Whitfield (1983). Their Blood Runs Cold: Adventures With Reptiles and Amphibians. Alabama: University of Alabama Press, 164. ISBN 978-0817301354. 
• Mattison, Chris (2007). The New Encyclopedia of Snakes. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 272. ISBN 978-0691132952. 
• Mehrtens, John (1987). Living Snakes of the World in Color. New York: Sterling. ISBN 0806964618. 
• Romulus Whitaker (English edition); Tamil translation by O.Henry Francis (1996). நம்மை சுட்ரியுள்ள பாம்புகள் (Snakes around us, Tamil). National Book Trust. ISBN 81-237-1905-1. 
• Rosenfeld, Arthur (1989). Exotic Pets. New York: Simon & Schuster, 293. ISBN 067147654. 
• Spawls, Steven (1995). The Dangerous Snakes of Africa. Sanibel Island,Florida: Ralph Curtis Publishing, 192. ISBN 0883590298. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Serpentes

• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (USDA)
• Snakes of the Indian Subcontinent
• Research Guides for Reptile Study (Smithsonian)
• EMBL Database
• Snake Cell — Large DB about snakes
• European Snakes — Large DB and Pictures about snakes
• Snake World - Several Types of Snakes
• What's That Snake? Snake Identification Tool (OPLIN)
• World's Ten Most Venomous Snakes

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