Snakes

Snakes – they are amazing, beautiful animals – they can also bring out the ‘fear and loathing’ in some people, as they have the potential to do real damage, but only of course if confronted or threatened. This sign I photographed recently – the classic ‘S’ movement – made my heart skip a beat, also as I was with a suitcase (strange I know, but ‘travel’ ).

The late Steve Irwin ( above with Terri his wife), one of my wildlife heroes ( I miss you, Steve! ) taught us how to respect snakes alongside all other creatures. Steve was right of course – it’s mostly humans who are cause for arguably more concern than the likes of snakes – humans pollute, damage and outright destroy snake habitats ; humans kill these animals just because we can ; there’s horrific wildlife trafficking – future blog posts will cover these topics.

Some initial things about snakes…

7 cool facts about snakes

They have a very big family. … 3,000 species!
They are “solar-powered” and rely fully on external heat or light sources. …
Not all snakes lay eggs. …
Snakes don’t have eyelids. …
They smell with their tongues. …
Their table manners are different than ours. …
Snakes have 5 forms of locomotion. Imagine a snake moving through the grass. What do you picture? The well-known s-movement? This wouldn’t be surprising, because this is the most common form of locomotion in snakes, also known as lateral undulation. But snakes have four other types of movement. Arboreal snakes, for example, use a form of locomotion which uses seven times more energy, called concertina. There is even a special locomotion used for when a snake tries to escape on a smooth surface, known as slide pushing.
. ( source- https://www.worldanimalprotection.org.au/news/7-cool-facts-about-snakes)

The study of amphibians and reptiles 🦎 is called ‘herpetology’ .