The king cobra is interesting in that it can pull up its front ribs and extend them into a hood as a threat display.Ī few snakes are born with what’s left of a pelvis. Snake ribs aren’t connected to anything like a sternum the way the ribs of humans are, so they can expand, much like the snake’s jaws, to accommodate large prey.
They protect the snake’s viscera, which are long and thin like the reptile. The snake’s ribs are curved and movable, and the last ribs might have forks. Some snakes have a vestigial pelvis, but it’s still not attached to any of the vertebrae or ribs. These first two vertebrae make up the atlas, which are attached to the snake’s skull. All the vertebrae save the ones in the tail and first or the first and second have ribs. Interestingly, a single snake joint isn’t flexible in itself, but the great number of them gives the snake its amazing pliability.īecause the snake’s vertebrae haven’t been modified to attach to limbs or a pelvic girdle, they are all pretty much alike. This means that every vertebra in the snake’s spinal column articulates with the next vertebrae in five places, which makes the joints strong. Most reptiles have zygapophyses, but the snake also has an extra pair that is found in both the back and the front of each of their vertebra. The vertebrae also have bony protuberances called zygapophyses that reach out to touch zygapophyses at the back of the vertebra. The snake’s vertebra is a ball and socket joint that fits into the hollow in the front of the next vertebra. In humans, the arrangement of the vertebrae is complex, and in a snake, it’s even more so. Snakes also replace their teeth throughout their life.Ī vertebrate’s spinal column is made up of vertebrae, and the snake is no exception. Since this can take some time, the snake protrudes its windpipe out of its mouth so it can breathe.
As the teeth grip the prey they work backward and forwards to pull it down the snake’s throat. The snake’s teeth are sharp enough to get a good grip on the prey, but they can’t chew. This allows the snake to swallow prey two and three times the size of its head. As the upper bones can swing up and out, these bones cab open down and out. As for the lower jaw, it has two long bones that are attached by stretchable ligaments attached to the back of the skull at the sides. These ligaments are so flexible that they can pull the bones up and out. Instead, the upper jaw is made up of separate bones that are held to each other by very stretchy ligaments. Unlike warm-blooded carnivores, the snake doesn’t have a solid upper jaw. This is where the snake’s flexible skull bones come in. Snakes have to immobilize their prey some kind of way, so they either squeeze or envenomate their prey to death, though some snakes just gulp the prey down while it’s still alive.
So how can a legless reptile, such as a snake, eat? This would make eating prey difficult even if a snake had the sort of teeth found in the mouths of lions, wolves, or hyenas.
The problem with being a snake is that one is a carnivore with a very narrow body and no limbs with which to catch and hold on to prey. 15,749 People Couldn't Ace This Quiz Think You Can? Take Our Brand New A-Z-Animals Snakes Quizīut before starting with the backbone of this cold-blooded vertebrate, it’s good to start at the beginning, which of course is the snake’s skull.
0 kommentar(er)
