First published in 2010 by
black dog books
15 Gertrude Street
Fitzroy Vic 3065
Australia
61 + 3 + 9419 9406
61 + 3 + 9419 1214 (fax)
[email protected]
www.bdb.com.au
Damian Goodall currently works as
the senior keeper at the Melbourne
Zoo Reptile House. Damian’s main
focus is to help protect threatened
reptiles and their habitats. He is
an avid wildlife photographer and
enjoys capturing the remarkable
diversity of reptiles while studying
them in the wild.
http://www.eyefornature.com.au
CONTENTS
THE MOST VENOMOUS SNAKE
Inland Taipan
MYSTERIOUS SNAKES
2
WHERE IN THE WORLD?
4
SNAKE BITS
6
Paradise Tree Snake
All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of study, research, criticism
or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this book may be reproduced by
any process, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, without permission of
the copyright owner. All enquiries should be made to the publisher at the address above.
HUNTING AND FEEDING
8
THE SCARIEST SNAKE
SNAKE BABIES
10
Photo credits:
Shutterstock: front cover, pp ii, iii,
2, 6–7, 12, 15, 18, 22, 24, 27, 29, 30;
Damian Goodall/eyefornature: back
cover, pp i, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 17,
25, 26, 27, 29, 30; Photolibrary: pp
4, 10, 13, 14, 15, 19; istockphoto:
p7; Theo Allofs/Corbis: p 8; S. Blair
Hedges/Penn State University, p
16; Michael Cermak: pp 20–21; Tim
Laman/National Geographic: p 23;
Wikimedia Commons: p 28
22
THE FLYING SNAKE
Cobra
23
24
THE NOISIEST SNAKE
THE LONGEST SNAKE
Printed and bound in China by Everbest Printing Pty Ltd
THE SWIMMING SNAKE
Banded Sea Krait
Damian Goodall asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this Work.
Copyright text © Damian Goodall 2010
Copyright layout and design © black dog books 2010
Copyright illustrations © Fei Tong 2010
20
Reticulated Python
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake
26
12
THE SIDEWAYS SNAKE
THE HEAVIEST SNAKE
Anaconda
FSC is a non-profit international organisation established to promote the responsible
management of the world’s forests.
National Library of Australia cataloguing-in-publication data:
Goodall, Damian
The snake book: slip sliding away
Includes index
For primary school age.
Subjects: Snakes--Australia--Juvenile literature
ISBN: 9781742031408 (pbk)
Series: Wild Planet
Dewey number: 597.96
Sidewinder
THE CAMOUFLAGED SNAKE
THE SMALLEST SNAKE
Thread Snake
Emerald Tree Boa
29
GLOSSARY
30
INDEX
30
16
THE SIGHTLESS SNAKE
Blind Snake
17
THE COLOURFUL SNAKE
Milk Snake
18
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 10 11 12 13
black dog books would like to thank Mike Swan for his thorough factual check of this book.
28
14
THE LONGEST FANGS
Gaboon Viper
19
2
3
Snakes have evolved from ancient
reptiles that once had limbs and
were similar to large lizards.
Tiger Snake
MYSTERIOUS
SNAKES
Green Python
Snakes are part of an extraordinary group of
cold-blooded creatures called reptiles. Over
time their bodies have adapted to help them
survive. They can burrow under ground to
escape predators, and can search for food
in small crevices. Since snakes are coldblooded, they sometimes need to shelter in
small places or stretch out on a warm rock to
help maintain their body temperature.
Some snakes have
traces of what used to be
their hind legs. The tiny
‘spurs’ on either side of
this python are all that
remains of its ancient
ancestor’s hind limbs.
Snake venom is a type of special
saliva. Some species of snakes have
venom that affects their prey’s blood
cells. Other snakes have venom that
destroys the nervous system. Each
type of venom is used to paralyse or
kill prey so snakes can eat them.
WHERE IN
THE WORLD?
4
5
Snakes live in tropical rainforests, dry deserts,
woodlands and alpine meadows. They can be
found on almost every continent on Earth, except
Antarctica. There are even swimming species that
are found in the oceans and in freshwater.
Black Mamba
So far, over 2900 species of snake have
been discovered. There are 18 different
family groups of snakes. The four main
families are vipers, boids, colubrids and
elapids. This African Mamba is a member
of the elapid family.
Some snakes are aboreal, spending most
of their time in the trees. Others are
terrestrial, spending a lot of their time
on the ground, sheltering in burrows or
among rocks and fallen logs.
Snakes have evolved to
colonise almost every
type of habitat, with the
exception of very cold
regions.
Tiger Snake
Reticulated Python
Milk Snake
Banded Sea Krait
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake
Anaconda
Gaboon Viper
Paradise Tree Snake
Sidewinder
Thread Snake/
Blind Snake
Inland Taipan
King Cobra
7
SNAKE
BITS
6
The transparent layer over the
eye is called a spectacle. This
is replaced when the snake
sloughs it skin. Snakes have
no eyelids or tear ducts.
Snakes have no external ears;
they can pick up vibrations
and sound waves through
parts of their body, such as
their lungs.
Most snake tails are quite short
compared to the length of their
bodies.
A python skull.
Rat Snake
Most reptiles have good senses
of both taste and smell. The
Jacobson’s organ, which is on
the roof of the mouth, relays
information collected by the
tongue to the brain for analysis.
Snake skin is made
of keratin, which
thickens to form
scales. As snakes
grow they need
to slough or shed
their old skin. The
entire outer layer
of skin is cast off
to reveal shiny new
scales underneath.
The forked tongue allows the
snake to pick up tiny particles
in the air or on the ground.
They can detect the odours
of their prey, potential mates,
rivals or predators.
Rough-scaled Python
Snakes have a double layer of teeth
on their top jaw and a single layer on
their bottom jaw. Venomous snakes
have two fangs that are grooved or
hollow to deliver the venom.
Humans have 32 vertebrae, while some
snakes can have as many as 400. This
allows snakes to be very flexible. They use
their strong muscles to move all their ribs
forward, allowing them to ‘slither’.
Rhinoceros Viper skeleton.
HUNTING AND FEEDING
8
Pit Vipers and
d some species of
pythons and boas have a large
heat-sensory pit beside their
lips. These pits
its can detect tiny
temperature differences in the
environment, so snakes can
find the exactt location of warmblooded prey,, even in complete
darkness.
Snakes can unlock their
jaws and stretch their
mouths to swallow other
animals whole.
Wagler’s Pit Viper
Most snakes are carnivores. They eat
small mammals, birds, frogs and even
other reptiles! Scales are very elastic, so
snakes can stretch their bodies over large
meals. Because snakes are cold-blooded,
they have a very slow metabolism, which
means they digest food very slowly and
don’t need to eat every day like we do.
Snakes can sometimes survive for months
without a feed.
A Green Tree Snake eating a frog.
Some snakes are active feeders, while
others are ambush feeders. Active
feeding snakes move around quickly
while looking for something to eat.
Ambush feeding snakes look for the
scent trail of their prey, and then sit
and wait for their dinner to come past.
Some snakes even have a lure on the
end of their tail, which can trick a bird
into thinking it is a wriggling worm.
The main purpose of venom
is to immobilise prey so they
can be easily eaten. A nonvenomous snake controls
its prey by coiling around
the animal’s body and
squeezing it, like this Carpet
Python eating a mouse.
11
SNAKE BABIES
SNA
10
Some snakes such as pythons
lay eggs, while others like boa
constrictors give birth to fully-formed
live babies.
Snakes that lay eggs are known as oviparous
snakes, and these tend to live in warmer
environments than those that have live babies.
Some snakes will incubate their eggs by burying
them in warm,, decomposing
pythons
p
g leaves. Female py
wrap around their clutch of eggs and generate heat
by twitching their muscles. Snakes that give birth to
live babies are called viviparous snakes.
Small snakes can have an average
of 2 to 5 eggs or live young. Large
snakes can lay clutches of up to 40
eggs. The Anaconda can give birth
to 50 or more live babies! Most
snakes average between 10 to 20
eggs or young.
It takes between 80 and 100 days for
an embryo to fully develop. The egg
shell is soft and leathery; when the
baby is ready to hatch it will use its egg
tooth to slice open the shell and slip
out. The egg tooth is on the tip of the
baby’s snout, but it will drop off soon
after hatching. Once they hatch, baby
snakes are left to survive on their own.
They can survive on their egg yolk until
they learn how to hunt.
A newly-hatched Honduran Milk Snake.
A baby Eyelash Viper.
A baby Rat Snake.
12
THE LONGEST SNAKE
RETICULATED
PYTHON
Python reticulatus
Because it can eat such
d
large prey, the Reticulated
Python may only need
to have one or two large
meals each year.
Family:
This species of python from
south-east Asia is the longest
snake in the world. It can reach
up to 10 metres in length.
Pythonidae
Prey:
wild pigs, deer,
rodents, birds, lizards, livestock
Reproduction:
egg layer
Similar to the Reticulated Python, this large Indian Rock
Python can also swallow large meals.
10 m
The Reticulated Python is found in
tropical jungles, and spends most of its
time basking in the tree-top canopies
or on the ground. Because it is so large
and slow it cannot actively hunt for
food. Instead, it will wait patiently for a
deer or wild pig to wander past.
The Reticulated Python can
camouflage itself among
the vegetation, striking out
quickly and wrapping its coils
around its dinner. The python
will squeeze its prey before
swallowing it whole.
Where:
south-east Asia
Habitat:
rainforest
non venomous