Answer
How many types of snakes are their and how can we protect ourselves from them ?
2700 kind of snakes .Poisonous(Cobras,Kraits,Viper and some sea snakes in Australia,eg of poisonous snakes : King Cobra of Asia,the black mamba,saw scaled viper and the taipan of Australia),non-poisonous(most snakes but recently herpetologist has decided that all snakes are more or less poisonous 270 of them are harmful to human),stout body(Gaboon viper,Africa),thin body(tree snake like vine snake,S.America),flattened body(sea snake),long snake(Anakonda(upto 9 m),Asian reticulate python(upto 9 m),King Kobra,short snake(Braminy blind snake - smallest snake in the world,only 15 cm).Snakes can be divided into the following types with respect to their eating habit :
1.Poisoning the prey(can be rat,birds,fish;snakes do not have human in their normal menu),some snakes first bites its prey and when it dies for the injected poison it devours the prey.Eg.Rattle Snakes or many type of poisonous snakes
2.Devouring the prey alive
3.Suffocating the prey and then devouring it entirely.Eg.Boa Constrictor,king snakes,rat snakes
4.Eating Eggs,they have spines inside the throat to allow only the yolk of the egg inside
5.Thread snakes eat termites
6.Some snakes eat only snails
7.Some snakes like American king snakes eat other snakes
To prevent snake bite :
Snakes can be found in village areas or shallow lakesides.Snakes must have a place to reduce their body temperature so snakes are common where human do not go often and the place has hiding or dark area.Generally snakes found near the Lake or Pond are extremely poisonous.Snakes also live on trees.Most of the tree snakes are less poisonous.Snakes can hide in bushes or burrows in a plane dry land(rattle snakes).
So the advise is avoid those places.If you are forced to go their cover your legs,arms and eye as these are the places snakes bite if it thin that you are an enemy.Remember,snakes are harmful if you disturb them by touching or hitting but they are harmless if you controle yourself from doing such things like stepping upon a snake.
If you are bitten by a snake.First bind a rope tightly just abovr the bitten place and run to hospital for anti-venom or any other medications(generally snake bites have only one remedy - anti-venom made from the snake poison)
Describe the anatomy of snakes ?
The body of a snake is covered by smooth or ridged scales.The eye of a snake has no moving eyelids but has scales and this is the reason why snakes can not close their eye.Anatomy of a snake can be divided into the following parts :
a.Scales and Colour
Snakes has two layer of skins.One outer layer and the other inner layer which grow and divide.When the scales die it is pushed up to form the outer layer.This dead scales are shaded out by a process caleed moulting.Active snakes of the warm areas moult more than the less active snakes of the cooler areas.
Snakes get it skin colour mainly from the small pigment cells but some colour may be due to the way light is reflected from the surface of the scales.Most snakes have a drab colouring that matches their surroundings.Some snakes have bright colours(paradise tree snakes of south east asia),some snakes have markings(red stripes,tan,red spots,white stripes on black body[Californian King Snake is a noticiable snake as some has white band across the width of the body but some has white stripes across the length of the body ]
b.Skeleton
A snake skeleton consists skull, vertebrae and rib.Vestiges or hind legs that proves that snake has evolved from Lizars(at around 100 million years ago) can be found in some snakes like python,boa ,blind snakes etc.
c.Internal Organs
A snake have long and slender lung and liver.Paired organs likekidneys, testes(male sex organ) and ovaries(female sex organ) are positioned staggerdedly in both side of the body.Snakes also has a long and expandable intestine which can digest an entire body of a prey in 72 hours.It can not digest scales or hairs so they are sprouted out through cloaca and then to vent.Females have oviduct where it releases its ovaries.Vent for both sex marks the en of the snakes trunk.
d.Sense Organ
Snakes do not have especially keen senses of sight and hearing.It uses its special tongue (with special taste buds and jacobsons organ) to trace smell particles.Some snakes like pit vipers has special pit organs which can sense a change in temperature( as low as 0.5 degree centigrade ) to detect its prey.Pit organs generally can be found on each side of the nostrils(pit viper) or in the upper lips(pit python).
Venom Glands,Fangs
Found only in two types of poisonous snakes.Elapids and vipers.Vipers(copperhead,rattlesnakes) can moove their fangs.When not in use they are folded into the roof of their mouth.But elapids(cobras,coral snakes and sea snakes) can not moove their fangs.Two often replaceable fangs connected to a venom gland on each side of the upper jaw.Fangs are like hypodermic needles and can be front end or back end.Snakes with fangs in front are generally more poisonous than the other type.Venom is nothing but saliva mixed with neuro toxins(can damage nervous system) and haemo toxin poisons(can damage blood circulatory organs).
Describe the lifecycle of snakes ?
1.Male Sex Organ : Hemipenes that lie inside the tail
Female Sex Organ : Overies in the 'vent'
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2.They mate and female carries the fertilized egg for two to three month
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3.Female lay eggs in shallow holes,rotten logs (6-30.50 or more for pythons.
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4.Female do not care for their eggs(except king cobra and Indian python,they also coil over the eggs to increase the temperature.
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5.Eggs hatched within 2-10 weeks.
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6.Baby snakes has to find their own food and they come out of their egg shell by piercing the wall with a temporary tooth .
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7.Snakes can become mature within 1 year i.e. can reproduce within a year.(4 year maximum)
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8.Snakes continue to grow even after maturity
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9.Snakes can live 15 years in captivity but it is hard to tell the life span of a wild snake as it is extremely difficult to observe a snake .
