Reptiles Facts
- Reptiles are ectothermic, which means they get their body heat from external sources. They cannot regulate their body temperature.
- Reptiles are the longest lived species on the planet. For example tortoises can live more than 150 years, alligators can live nearly 70 years.
- Reptile’s body is covered in scales or they have a bony external plate called shell.
- Reptiles cannot chew their food, they can only tear it.
Snake Anatomy
Snakes belong to the reptile group. They lack the moveable eyelids, limbs, sternums, urinary bladder and ear openings. The body of the snake is so narrow and elongated. So the organs of the snake are also elongated to fit in the body structure
The quadrate bones that connect the skull to the lower jaw are long and flexible. So snakes are not able to crush its prey with the jaw. The snakes can only swallow the prey as it is
Head, Skull and Jaws
The skull of the snake is bony and contains non stretchy brain case which is connected to the rest of the skull by ligaments. The posterior of the skull is attached to the lower jaw which helps the snake to open the mouth widely.
Fangs and teeth
The teeth of the snake are arranged in two rows consisting of large number of small teeth's on the upper jaw and a single row of the similar teeth in the lower jaw
Skeleton
The snake skeleton is found from the skull till its tail. The skeleton is divided in to five vertebral structures. The first two structures are called atlas which is followed by the unribbed neck vertebrae followed by 100 to 600 mid body vertebrae and the last is the 2 to 10 pre pelvic and pelvic vertebrae. Only the mid body vertebrae contains the ribs
Skin
Like all the reptiles snakes also have scales to protect them from scrape and dehydration. The scales in the belly are thicker than the scales found at the top and sides. The belly scales are called scutes. These scales help the snake to protect the body that has the contact with the ground
Growth
Snakes have the capacity to grow throughout their life cycle. Snakes can grow as long as it lives in the earth. This ability is lacked in all other animals including in man
Skin shedding
Snakes usually shed their skin at regular intervals of time. This process is called as ecdysis. We can easily find the time of skin shedding. Since before shedding the skin the color of the skin turns to bluish hue the eyes turns to cloudy
Coloration and Markings
The skin coloration and marking is used to distinguish between the snake species in the world. All the species of the snake have different color and no two species is said to have the same color. Snakes possess marks in their body depending on their species since some snake species do not have marking at all
