Basics about Snakes



Easier - Snakes are long, thin reptiles. They do not have legs and they slither along the ground. In the United States, only copperheads, coral snakes, rattlesnakes, and water moccasins have poisonous bites.


Harder - Snakes have a long, legless, flexible body that is covered with dry scales. When snakes move about on land, they usually slide on their belly. Snake's eyes are covered by clear scales rather than movable eyelids; therefore, their eyes are always open. They repeatedly flick out their narrow, forked tongue, using it to bring odors to a special sense organ in the mouth.


Snakes belong to the order of animals called reptiles. This group also include crocodiles, lizards, and turtles. As with the other reptiles, snakes maintain a fairly steady body temperature by their behavior. They raise their temperature by lying in the sun or lower it by crawling into the shade.


There are about 2,400 species of snakes in the world. They live almost everywhere, in deserts, forests, oceans, streams, and lakes. Some are ground dwellers, others live in trees, and other snakes spend most of their lives in water. There are a few areas where snakes do not live. They cannot survive in places where the ground stays frozen the year around, so they are missing in the polar regions or at high mountain elevations. Several islands, including Ireland and New Zealand, do not have snakes.