Eyes on Science
Fin-tastic Activities
Discover Snakes
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One of the strangest creatures on the planet is arguably the snake. After all, they have no legs, they shed their skin, and they swallow food that shouldn’t be able to fit into their mouths. It is these strange adaptations, however, that help the snake to survive so well. For instance, because they have no legs, snakes slither on the ground or through the trees, nearly always undetected. This allows snakes to avoid predators and sneak up on their prey. The combination of their muscles and smooth scales allows them to slide with ease. As for shedding their skin, it’s not strange! As they grow, all animals lose some of their skin, usually in flakes, but since snakes don’t have extra appendages, it can come off easily in one piece. Their manner of swallowing food whole is also explainable. Snakes don’t have the teeth to be able to chew their food as many other animals do and they obviously can’t use arms or legs to break their food into pieces. So, a snake’s lower jaws are not connected by bone but rather by stretchy skin, which means that it can expand to allow them to eat larger animals.
More Ways to Explore
Learn more about our largest snake at the Aquarium on our Green Anaconda fact page.
*External links are provided for informational purposes only; they do not constitute an endorsement by LLPA nor is LLPA responsible for the accuracy, legality, or content of the external site.
