Where does the poison come from? Where does snake venom come from? What snakes eat

In the temporal part of the snake head are glands that produce poison. From these glands, the poison flows through the channels into two tubular teeth located in upper jaw... In some snakes, these teeth are 4-5 centimeters long. When such a snake is in a calm state, its teeth are pressed against the palate like a folding knife. At the time of the bite, the teeth are straightened and pushed forward. In this case, the snake delivers a lightning strike with their help. In a cobra, the teeth are deep in the mouth and reach a length of only 6-7 millimeters. To hit the victim, the cobra opens its mouth wide, grabs the prey and chews it. If a snake accidentally breaks poisonous teeth, new ones will grow in their place.

All animals are susceptible to snake bites in one way or another. But, for example, hedgehogs are able to tolerate very significant doses of snake venom without any consequences. Nature has endowed pigs with similar enviable qualities, which are protected from snake bites by a thick layer of subcutaneous fat, very poor in blood vessels and therefore preventing the spread of poison.

(!) First aid for a poisonous snake bite

The victim should be put to bed, ensure the immobility of the bitten arm or leg, putting splints on it, and give him plenty of warm drink. Harmful and dangerous are such methods of "treatment" as constrictions, moxibustion, alcohol intake.

We have already mentioned poisonous teeth and poison several times. poisonous snakes... Now let's take a closer look at what this poisonous snake weapon is and how it works.

The venomous apparatus of snakes consists of a pair of venom glands, where poison is produced and stored from venomous teeth, located, as we have already mentioned, in different snakes in different ways, in front of or behind the rest of the teeth, but always in the upper jaw.

The poisonous glands of snakes are located under the eyes and behind them and represent a modified salivary glands; the poison that is produced in them, respectively, is nothing more than altered saliva. This saliva is weakly poisonous in non-dangerous or non-poisonous snakes, for example, in snakes, more poisonous in snakes with poisonous teeth sitting behind other teeth (such as a cat snake), and, finally, it is a very strong poison in real poisonous snakes ... From the poisonous glands there are ducts for the drainage of the poison to the poisonous teeth; these ducts sometimes have enlargements for the accumulation of poison.

Poisonous teeth are much larger than the rest (in gyurza they can reach up to 1.5 cm in length), curved hook-like back, with very sharp thin ends in the form of a needle. They are tubular (in vipers and shitomordnikov) or furrowed (in cobra, cat snake, etc.). Tubular poisonous teeth are pierced inside with a channel for the drainage of poison; in grooved teeth, a longitudinal groove on the front side of the tooth serves for this purpose. The channel for the drainage of poison in tubular teeth opens near the end of the tooth also on its front side.

This feature of poisonous teeth makes sense. When the snake has thrust its poisonous teeth into the body of the animal, it naturally tries to break free for the first moment and moves forward from the snake; in this case, the hook-shaped poisonous teeth squeeze back the tissues into which they have sunk, and in front of them there is a small space where poison can freely pour out. If the hole of the channel for the poison or the groove for its drain were on the back of the tooth, the first movement of the victim, on the contrary, would not facilitate, but would complicate the exit of the poison.

As already mentioned, the venomous teeth of the vipers (and moths) are attached movably, so that at rest they are folded backwards; this is achieved by the mobility of the articulation of the maxillary bones on which they sit with the skull of the snake. Folded in this way, poisonous teeth are covered with folds of the oral mucosa.

Since poisonous teeth are hard and fragile, like glass, and easily break, and their significance for poisonous snakes is enormous, several substitute teeth always grow to replace the active pair, of which the largest comes into operation soon after the breakdown of the active poisonous tooth. Therefore, magicians showing poisonous snakes in the bazaars (and there are still many of them in the countries of the East) break off their teeth so that they can be safely handled, more than once, but watch the change of poisonous teeth and break them off from time to time; or you have to break out at once pieces of the maxillary bones with all the poisonous teeth and their substitutes so that the poisonous teeth have nowhere else to appear; however, some "snake charmers" wield snakes with venomous teeth.

When attacked, a poisonous snake plunges its poisonous teeth into the body of a bitten animal and, by pressing the anterior temporal muscle on the poisonous gland, injects poison into the wounds, which expand with the movements of the victim itself, trying to escape. If the killed viper has not used up its poison, then when its head is squeezed behind and slightly below the eyes, drops of poison appear from the poisonous teeth.

From the bite marks, it is easy to determine immediately, before the onset of painful phenomena, which snake has bitten, poisonous or harmless. The bite mark of a harmless or non-venomous snake consists of four long rows of punctures from small teeth; a viper bite leaves a mark in the form of two deep wounds from poisonous teeth and two rows of pricks from small teeth, and deep wounds are located on the sides of the front end of the rows of small pricks.

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So, in reality the spellcaster serpent, pretending to be preparing for the performance, lightly taps on the basket with the snake or stomps, and the animal immediately reacts.

In addition, when performing music, the caster continuously moves the body, and the snake, continuously observing him, repeats his movements so that the person is always in front of his eyes. From the outside, it looks like a snake is dancing, spellbound by the spellcaster!

Where does the poison come from?According to scientists, there are now about two thousand four hundred different types of snakes in the world. Of these, only eight percent are poisonous and paralyze or kill their victim with poison. In many venomous snakes, the venom is not strong enough or produced in insufficient quantities to be dangerous to humans.

All snakes produce a lot of saliva, which helps them swallow and digest their prey. Poisonous snakes in one of salivary glands a substance is formed that is toxic to its victims. This substance is snake venom.

The venom of some snakes is so strong that it can kill an elephant. In others, it is so weak that it can only kill a small lizard. No more than two hundred species of poisonous snakes can be considered dangerous to humans.

Of the venomous snakes known today, cobras and snakes similar to them make up one family, vipers another. In addition, some members of the largest family of Coluber snakes are also venomous.

Cobras and other members of this family have two poisonous teeth on the upper jaw, one on each side. These teeth have grooves, but in most cobras they are closed and form tubes that are empty inside. A muscle is located around the poisonous gland. When the snake bites, the muscle presses on the gland, squeezing poison into the teeth, which enters the victim's body through the grooves of the teeth.

There is also the so-called spitting cobra, which can shoot poison from its poisonous teeth. A cobra aims at the eyes of a threatening animal, such as an antelope or a buffalo. The spit reaches the target up to two meters away and almost instantly causes blindness.

Usually cobra venom acts on nervous system victim and paralyzes her. When the poison reaches the nerve centers that control breathing and heartbeat, the victim is killed.

Vipers have very long, poisonous teeth. Their hell mainly affects the blood cells and blood vessels victims. This can cause severe swelling and bleeding.

What do snakes eat?There are no "vegetarians" snakes. They are all predators and feed different kinds animals.

Snakes have very strong digestive juices that perform a vital function as snakes swallow their food whole. They do not have teeth to tear apart prey, as, for example, representatives of the feline family do. Birds and turtles have a beak. And all that snakes have are teeth, thin as needles, with which they catch their prey and send them into their mouths. But they cannot chew it.

The most unusual thing about snakes is the structure of their jaws, which is associated with a peculiar way of feeding. The jaws are very loosely attached to the rest of the skull bones. There are teeth on the jaws, and most snakes also have two rows of teeth in the sky. All of these rows of teeth sit on bones that are set in motion by special muscles.

The snake eats, pulling one jaw over the prey, while the teeth of the other jaw hold it so that it does not break out. The snake then frees its teeth, pushes the other jaw forward and plunges them again.

Thus, food is pushed into the snake's throat.

Thanks to this structure of the jaws, the snake is able to swallow a surprisingly large animal. For example, the python eats large animals like deer and leopard! Smaller snakes eat smaller animals, of course. Most feed on medium-sized creatures: frogs, mice, rats, birds, and grasshoppers. Some small blind snakes feed on termites. And then there are those who eat other snakes!

Snakes are very picky about their food choices. The green North American snake, for example, feeds on spiders, fish, birds, and caterpillars, but does not eat lizards or mice. And water snakes eat fish and frogs, and do not touch insects and mice. The yellow-striped snake found in North America is more omnivorous. Her diet includes worms, fish, frogs, rodents and birds.

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Snakes (lat. Serpentes) - a suborder of reptiles of the squamous order.

All famous snakes - predators. Among the various varieties of snakes, there are poisonous representatives that are harmless and very dangerous for humans and animals. Currently, there are more than 3000 species of snakes on Earth, united in 14 families. Poisonous snakes account for about a quarter of the known species.

What is the deadliest snake

The answer to this question depends on what is meant by the word "deadly". Is it the snake that kills more people than other snakes, or is it the snake with the strongest venom?

Some scientists consider the king cobra to be the deadliest snake. They justify their opinion the following reasons... Its poison is very dangerous. And most importantly, this snake always attacks without delay. There are cases when people died from king cobra bites within an hour. Competition king cobra can make up a tiger snake that lives in Australia. Its venom is one of the most potent, but fortunately the tiger snake has a limited amount of venom.

Another snake lives in India. Called krait, 77 percent of people bitten by this snake die. Another Indian cobra - spectacle - killed probably more people than any other snake, but in fact, only 10 percent of those affected die from its bite, provided that health care provided on time.

By the way, the world's largest snake is by no means the deadliest. This is an anaconda that lives in South America. The length of this snake can reach nine meters. But since anacondas live in very hard-to-reach areas, it may well be that there are larger specimens that have not been encountered by researchers.

Do snakes lay eggs

For most of us, all snakes are the same. We have heard that there are differences between them, but we do not suspect how great they are.

One such difference is that different types of snakes reproduce differently. For example, rattlesnakes, copperheads, water snakes do not lay eggs, but give birth to live young. Snakes are known that can give birth to up to 75 babies at a time.

Other snakes lay eggs. They usually do this in secluded places, under rocks, under logs, or in empty stumps. In shape, snake eggs are somewhat different from chicken eggs: they are smaller and more authentic. Although the eggs of large snakes may not be inferior in size to chicken ones.

The shell of a snake egg is strong enough, resembling a skin. The number of eggs in a clutch varies depending on the type of snake. The python probably lays the most eggs. The Indian python can lay up to 107 eggs at a time.

Eggs are usually stored in the sun or in the heat generated by rotting vegetation. Sometimes snakes guard the eggs, coiled around them in a ring.

But who cares about the growing offspring if the number of eggs in a clutch reaches 100? Nobody! All small snakes are able to take care of themselves from the moment they are born!

Does the snake have bones

When you observe the movement of a snake, there are two things you are surprised at first. First, how it moves: you can't see the legs, nothing pushes or pulls the snake's body - and yet it moves! And secondly, the snake's body seems to flow on the ground, as if it were boneless!

Nevertheless, the snake is simply filled with bones, that's a fact! Snakes have an articulated spine to which ribs are attached. Some snakes have up to 145 pairs of ribs attached to their flexible spine. The vertebrae are connected to each other by a kind of articulated joints, and each vertebra has its own pair of ribs attached, which gives the vertebrae and ribs freedom of movement.

The tips of each pair of ribs, in turn, are connected by muscles with one of the plates (scales) on the belly of the snake.

Snakes have bones in their heads and jaws. While eating, the snake is able to open its jaws very wide, because the bones of the mouth and throat are not rigidly fixed. In fact, most snakes swallow their prey without even killing it. They simply digest it alive.

So, as you can see, snakes have bones, although their seemingly slippery bodies seem to be completely devoid of any solid foundation.

Why do snakes have no legs

The lack of legs in modern snakes does not mean that they never had limbs.

But how and when the snakes "lost" their legs is not known to science.

Some scientists believe that the ancestors of the snake were some species of shrew lizards that have survived to this day. All these lizards have very short or absent legs.

But, despite the fact that once all the legs of the snake disappeared, they have by no means lost the ability to move and get along very well without them. Convex plates located on the belly help the snake move.

There are four different ways movement of snakes.

Lateral undulating movement. The snake sequentially describes the body with undulating curves, similar in shape to the letter S, and, pushing off the body from the unevenness of the soil, slides forward.

Rectilinear motion. Small groups of plates on the belly push part of the snake's body forward, while the rest of the plates are thrown back, creating a support for the body. After that, the plates that have moved forward hold the body while the plates of the back of the body are pulled up to them.

Spiral motion. Used for climbing trees. The snake wraps its tail around the trunk of a tree and, throwing up the front part of the body, hooks onto the tree at a certain height, after which it pulls lower part body.

Lateral move. Moving this method, the snake throws the front part of the body to the side, then pulls up the rear part and repeats the same operation.

Why does a snake need scales

Snakes are reptiles, and like all reptiles, they have dry and scaly skin. Relatives of snakes are lizards, alligators, crocodiles, sea and land turtles.

Since there are more than 2,000 species of snakes in the world, it is not surprising that they live everywhere: on the ground, underground, in trees and in water, inhabiting almost all regions of our planet, with the exception of the polar regions and some islands.

As noted earlier, snakes lack legs (although pythons and boas have the remnants of hind legs), and plates (or scales) located on the belly help them when moving. They are quite wide, and the snake moves them in such a way that the edge of the plate is repelled by some unevenness on the surface of the earth. Pushing off several plates at the same time, the snake moves forward.

All snakes, both old and young, shed periodically. Even the film covering the eyes is giving way to a new one. In the process of molting, the skin of the snake is turned inside out. The snake gets rid of it by rubbing against any irregularities or stones. Snakes molt several times a year.

Is it possible to actually hypnotize a snake

We all have seen snake charmers playing a musical instrument in front of a snake, which, rising above the ground, seems to be dancing to their music. What is really happening at this moment?

The truth is, the snake charmer doesn't hypnotize them at all! He's just putting on a show, trying to convince the audience that he makes the snake "dance". To begin with, it should be noted that snakes are deaf and therefore cannot hear the music played by the caster! But on the other hand, snakes are very sensitive to the slightest vibrations of the earth's surface next to them, and having caught these vibrations, they immediately react.

So, in reality, the snake charmer, pretending to be preparing for the performance, lightly taps on the basket with the snake or stomps, and the animal immediately reacts.

In addition, when performing music, the caster continuously moves the body, and the snake, continuously observing him, repeats his movements so that the person is always in front of his eyes. From the outside, it looks like a snake is dancing, spellbound by the spellcaster!

Where do snakes get their poison?

According to scientists, there are now about two thousand four hundred different types of snakes in the world. Of these, only eight percent are poisonous and paralyze or kill their victim with poison. In many venomous snakes, the venom is not strong enough or produced in insufficient quantities to be dangerous to humans.

All snakes produce a lot of saliva, which helps them swallow and digest their prey. In poisonous snakes, a substance is formed in one of the salivary glands that is poisonous to its victims. This substance is snake venom.

The venom of some snakes is so strong that it can kill an elephant. In others, it is so weak that it can only kill a small lizard. No more than two hundred species of poisonous snakes can be considered dangerous to humans.

Of the venomous snakes known today, cobras and snakes similar to them make up one family, vipers another. In addition, some members of the largest family of Coluber snakes are also venomous.

Cobras and other members of this family have two poisonous teeth on the upper jaw, one on each side. These teeth have grooves, but in most cobras they are closed and form tubes that are empty inside. A muscle is located around the poisonous gland. When the snake bites, the muscle presses on the gland, squeezing poison into the teeth, which enters the victim's body through the grooves of the teeth.

There is also the so-called spitting cobra, which can shoot poison from its poisonous teeth. A cobra aims at the eyes of a threatening animal, such as an antelope or a buffalo. The spit reaches the target up to two meters away and almost instantly causes blindness.

Usually the poison of the cobra acts on the nervous system of the victim and paralyzes it. When the poison reaches the nerve centers that control breathing and heartbeat, the victim is killed.

Vipers have very long, poisonous teeth. Their hell mainly affects the blood cells and blood vessels of the victim. This can cause severe swelling and bleeding.

What snakes eat

All snakes are predators and feed on various types of animals.

Snakes have very strong digestive juices that perform a vital function as snakes swallow their food whole. They do not have teeth to tear apart prey, as, for example, representatives of the feline family do. Birds and turtles have a beak. And all that snakes have are teeth, thin as needles, with which they catch their prey and send them into their mouths. But they cannot chew it.

The most unusual thing about snakes is the structure of their jaws, which is associated with a peculiar way of feeding. The jaws are very loosely attached to the rest of the skull bones. There are teeth on the jaws, and most snakes also have two rows of teeth in the sky. All of these rows of teeth sit on bones that are set in motion by special muscles.

The snake eats, pulling one jaw over the prey, while the teeth of the other jaw hold it so that it does not break out. The snake then frees its teeth, pushes the other jaw forward and plunges them again.

Thus, food is pushed into the snake's throat.

Thanks to this structure of the jaws, the snake is able to swallow a surprisingly large animal. For example, the python eats large animals such as deer and leopard. Smaller snakes eat smaller animals, of course. Most feed on medium-sized creatures: frogs, mice, rats, birds, and grasshoppers. Some small blind snakes feed on termites. And there are those who eat other snakes.

Snakes are very picky about their food choices. The green North American snake, for example, feeds on spiders, fish, birds, and caterpillars, but does not eat lizards or mice. And water snakes eat fish and frogs, and do not touch insects and mice. The yellow-striped snake found in North America is more omnivorous. Her diet includes worms, fish, frogs, rodents and birds.