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This article is about the animal. For other uses, see Snake (disambiguation).
Snake
Fossil range: Cretaceous – Recent

Spotted Python
Antaresia maculosa
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Sauropsida
Subclass: Diapsida
Infraclass: Lepidosauromorpha
Superorder: Lepidosauria
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Linnaeus, 1758

World range of snakes

 (rough range of sea snakes in blue)

Infraorders and Families

 Alethinophidia – Nopcsa, 1923
o Acrochordidae –
Bonaparte, 1831
o Aniliidae – Stejneger,
1907
o Anomochilidae –
Cundall, Wallach &
Rossman, 1993
o Atractaspididae –
Günther, 1858
o Boidae – Gray, 1825
o Bolyeriidae –
Hoffstetter, 1946
o Colubridae – Oppel,
1811
o Cylindrophiidae –
Fitzinger, 1843
o Elapidae – F. Boie, 1827
o Loxocemidae – Cope,
1861
o Pythonidae – Fitzinger,
1826
o Tropidophiidae –
Brongersma, 1951
o Uropeltidae – Müller,
1832
o Viperidae – Oppel, 1811
o Xenopeltidae –
Bonaparte, 1845
 Scolecophidia – Cope, 1864
o Anomalepididae –
Taylor, 1939
o Leptotyphlopidae –
Stejneger, 1892

o Typhlopidae – Merrem,
1820

A snake is an elongate reptile of the suborder Serpentes. Like all reptiles, snakes are
covered in scales. All snakes are carnivorous and can be distinguished from legless
lizards by their lack of eyelids, limbs, external ears, and vestiges of forelimbs. The
2,700+ species of snakes spread across every continent except Antarctica ranging in size
from the tiny, 10 cm long thread snake to pythons and anacondas at 9 m (30 ft) long. In
order to accommodate snakes' narrow bodies, paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one
in front of the other instead of side by side.
While venomous snakes comprise a minority of the species, some possess potent venom
capable of causing painful injury or death to humans. However, venom in snakes is
primarily for killing and subduing prey rather than for self-defense. Snakes may have
evolved from a lizard which adapted to burrowing during the Cretaceous period (c 150
Ma), though some scientists have postulated an aquatic origin. The diversity of modern
snakes appeared during the Paleocene period (c 66 to 56 Ma).

A literary word for snake is serpent (a Middle English word which comes from Old
French, and ultimately from *serp-, "to creep"[1], also ερπω in Greek). The serpent is also
a symbol of the healing arts.

Contents
[hide]
 1 Introduction
 2 Taxonomy
 3 Evolution
 4 Skin
 5 Perception
o 5.1 Eyesight
o 5.2 Smell
o 5.3 Vibration sensitivity
o 5.4 Infrared sensitivity
 6 Internal organs
 7 Locomotion
o 7.1 Lateral undulation
o 7.2 Sidewinding
o 7.3 Concertina locomotion
o 7.4 Rectilinear locomotion
o 7.5 Other
 8 Reproduction
 9 Venom
 10 Interactions with humans
o 10.1 Snake bite
o 10.2 Snake charmers
o 10.3 Snake trapping
o 10.4 Consumption of snakes
o 10.5 Snakes as pets
o 10.6 Symbolism
o 10.7 In religion
 11 See also
 12 Cited references
 13 References

 14 External links
 [edit] Introduction

Snake eating a rodent

Snake eating a lizard near Ibor river (Extremadura, Spain)

All snakes are strictly carnivorous, eating small animals including lizards, other snakes,
small mammals, birds, eggs, fish, snails or insects.[2][3][4] Because snakes cannot bite or
tear their food to pieces, a snake must swallow its prey whole. The body size of a snake
has a major influence on its eating habits. Smaller snakes eat smaller prey. Juvenile
pythons might start out feeding on lizards or mice and graduate to small deer or antelope
as an adult, for example.

The snake's jaw is the most unique jaw in the animal kingdom. Contrary to the popular
belief that snakes can dislocate their jaws, snakes have a very flexible lower jaw, the two
halves of which are not rigidly attached, and numerous other joints in their skull (see
snake skull), allowing them to open their mouths wide enough to swallow their prey
whole, even if it is larger in diameter than the snake itself,[3] as snakes do not chew. For
example, the African Egg-eating Snake has flexible jaws adapted for eating eggs much
larger than the diameter of its head.[4] This snake has no teeth, but does have bony
protrusions on the inside edge of its spine which are used to aid in breaking the shells of
the eggs it eats.[4]

While the majority of snakes eat a variety of prey animals, there is some specialization by
some species. King cobras and the Australian Bandy-bandy consume other snakes.
Pareas iwesakii and other snail-eating Colubrids of subfamily Pareatinae have more teeth
on the right side of their mouths than on the left, as the shells of their prey usually spiral
clockwise[5][6]

Some snakes have a venomous bite, which they use to kill their prey before eating it.[7][3]
Other snakes kill their prey by constriction.[3] Still others swallow their prey whole and
alive.[3][4]

African Egg-eating snake

After eating, snakes become dormant while the process of digestion takes place.[8]
Digestion is an intense activity, especially after consumption of very large prey. In
species that feed only sporadically, the entire intestine enters a reduced state between
meals to conserve energy, and the digestive system is 'up-regulated' to full capacity
within 48 hours of prey consumption. Being cold-blooded (ectothermic), the surrounding
temperature plays a large role in a snake's digestion. 30 degrees Celsius is the ideal
temperature for snakes to digest their food. So much metabolic energy is involved in a
snake's digestion that in Crotalus durissus, the Mexican rattlesnake, an increase of body
temperature to as much as 1.2 degrees Celsius above the surrounding environment has
been observed.[9] Because of this, a snake disturbed after having eaten recently will often
regurgitate its prey in order to be able to escape the perceived threat. When undisturbed,
the digestive process is highly efficient, with the snake's digestive enzymes dissolving
and absorbing everything but the prey's hair and claws, which are excreted along with
waste.

[edit] Taxonomy
Squamata within the entire suborder Serpentes in Linnean taxonomy.[10] There are two
infraorders of Serpentes: Alethinophidia and Scolecophidia.[10] This separation is based
primarily on morphological characteristics between family groups and mitochondrial
DNA.
As with a lot of taxonomic classifications, there are many debates when it comes to how
many there are. For instance, many sources classify Boidae and Pythonidae as the same
family, or keep others, such as Elapidae and Hydrophiidae, separate for practical reasons
despite their extremely close relation.

Alethinophidia 15 families
Commo
Example Example
Family n
Species Photo
Names
Marine
Acrochordid File Snake
ae file (Acrochor
Bonaparte, snakes dus
1831[11] granulatus
)
Burrowing
Aniliidae coral False
Stejneger, pipe Coral
1907[12] snakes (Anilius
scytale)
Leonard's
Anomochili Pipe
dae dwarf
Snake,
Cundall, pipe
Wallach, 1993. snakes
(Anomoch
[13] ilus
leonardi)
Bibron's
Atractaspidi burrowing
dae mole
asp
Günther, vipers
1858[14]
(Atractasp
is bibroni)
tree boa,
Russell's
Amazon
earth
tree
Boidae boa, red
(Corallus
Gray, 1825[11] sand
hortulanus
boa,
,)
Indian
python
Bolyeriidae Round Round
Hoffstetter, Island Island
1946 boas Burrowing
Boa
(Bolyeria
multocari
 nata)
colubrid
s,
Commo
n wolf
snake,
yellow
spotted
wolf
snake,
common
kukri
snake,
streaked
kukri
snake,
dumeril'
s black
headed
snake,
buffstrip
Grass
ed keel
Colubridae Snake
[11] back,
Oppel, 1811 (Natrix
green
natrix)
keel
back,
checker
ed keel
back,
trinket
snake,
Rat
snake,
cat
snake,
glossy
marsh
snake,
Indian
ribbon
snake,
common
vine
snake
Cylindrophii Asian Red-tailed
dae pipe Pipe
 Snake
(Cylindro
Fitzinger, 1843 snakes
phis
ruffus)
cobras,
coral
snakes,
mambas
King
, kraits,
Cobra
Elapidae sea
(Ophiopha
Boie, 1827[11] snakes,
gus
sea
hannah)
kraits,
Australi
an
elapids
Mexican
Mexican
Loxocemida burrowing
burrowi
e snake
ng
Cope, 1861 (Loxocem
snakes
us bicolor)
Ball
python/Ro
Pythonidae pythons yal python
Fitzinger, 1826
(Python
regius)
Northern
Eyelash
Tropidophii Boa
dae dwarf
(Trachybo
Brongersma, boas
1951 a
boulengeri
)
shield-
tailed Ocellated
Uropeltidae snakes, Shield-tail
Müller, 1832 short- (Uropeltis
tailed ocellatus)
snakes
vipers,
European
pitvipers
Viperidae asp
,
Oppel, 1811[11] (Vipera
rattlesna
aspis)
kes
Xenopeltida sunbea Sunbeam
e m snake
Bonaparte, (Xenopelti
1845 snakes
s unicolor)
Scolecophidia 3 families
Commo
Example Example
Family n
Species Photo
Names
Dawn
Anomalepid dawn Blind
ae blind Snake
Taylor,
1939[11]
snakes (Liotyphlo
ps beui)
Texas
Leptotyphlo slender Blind
pidae Snake
blind
Stejneger, (Leptotyph
1892[11]
snakes
lops
dulcis)
Black
Blind
Typhlopidae blind Snake
Merrem,
1820[15]
snakes (Typhlops
reticulatus
)

[edit] Evolution
Phylogeny of snakes is poorly known because snake skeletons are typically small and
fragile, making fossilization uncommon. However 150 million-year-old specimens
readily definable as snakes with lizardlike skeletal structures have been uncovered in
South America and Africa.[16] It has been agreed, on the basis of morphology, that snakes
descended from lizards.[2][16] Molecular evidence reinforces this; it is hypothesized[citation
needed]
that snakes share a common venomous ancestor with several lizard families,
forming the Toxicofera clade.

Fossil evidence suggests that snakes may have evolved from burrowing lizards, such as
varanids or a similar group during the Cretaceous Period.[17] An early fossil snake, Najash
rionegrina, was a two-legged burrowing animal with a sacrum, and was fully terrestrial.
[18]
One extant analog of these putative ancestors is the earless monitor Lanthanotus of
Borneo, although it also is semi-aquatic.[19] As these ancestors became more subterranean,
they lost their limbs and their bodies became more streamlined for burrowing.[19]
According to this hypothesis, features such as the transparent, fused eyelids (brille) and
loss of external ears evolved to combat subterranean conditions such as scratched corneas
and dirt in the ears with snakes re-emerged onto the surface of the earth much as they are
today.[19][17] Other primitive snakes are known to have possessed hindlimbs but lacked a
direct connection of the pelvic bones to the vertebrae, including Haasiophis,
Pachyrhachis and Eupodophis, which are slightly older than Najash.[20]

Fossil of Archaeophis proavus

Primitive groups among the modern snakes, pythons and boas, have vestigial hind limbs:
tiny, clawed digits known as anal spurs which are used to grasp during mating.[20][16]
Leptotyphlopidae and Typhlopidae are other examples where remnants of the pelvic
girdle are still present, sometimes appearing as horny projections when visible. The
frontal limbs in all snakes are non-existent because of the evolution of the Hox genes in
this area. The axial skeleton of the snakes' common ancestor had like most other
tetrapods the familiar regional specializations consisting of cervical (neck), thoracic
(chest), lumbar (lower back), sacral (pelvic) and caudal (tail) vertebrae. The Hox gene
expression in the axial skeleton responsible for the development of the thorax became
dominant early in snake evolution and as a result, the vertebrae anterior to the hindlimb
buds (when present) all have the same thoracic-like identity (except from the atlas, axis
and one to three neck vertebrae), making most of the snake's skeleton being composed of
an extremely extended thorax. Ribs are found exclusively on the thoracic vertebrae. The
neck, lumbar and pelvic vertebrae are very reduced in number (only two to ten lumbar
and pelvic vertebrae are still present), while only a short tail remains of the caudal
vertebrae, although the tail is still long enough to be of good use in many species, and is
modified in some aquatic and tree dwelling species.

An alternative hypothesis, based on morphology, suggests that the ancestors of snakes

were related to mosasaurs — extinct aquatic reptiles from the Cretaceous — which in
turn are thought to have derived from varanid lizards.[2] Under this hypothesis, the fused,
transparent eyelids of snakes are thought to have evolved to combat marine conditions
(corneal water loss through osmosis), while the external ears were lost through disuse in
an aquatic environment, ultimately leading to an animal similar in appearance to sea
snakes of today. In the Late Cretaceous, snakes re-colonized the land much like they are
today. Fossil snake remains are known from early Late Cretaceous marine sediments,
which is consistent with this hypothesis, particularly as they are older than the terrestrial
Najash rionegrina. Similar skull structure; reduced/absent limbs; and other anatomical
features found in both mosasaurs and snakes lead to a positive cladistical correlation,
although some of these features are shared with varanids. In recent years, genetic studies
have indicated that snakes are not as closely related to monitor lizards as it was once
believed, and therefore not to mosasaurs, the proposed ancestor in the aquatic scenario of
their evolution. However, there is more evidence linking mosasaurs to snakes than to
varanids. Fragmentary remains that have been found from the Jurassic and Early
Cretaceous indicate deeper fossil records for these groups, which may eventually refute
either hypothesis.

Texas Coral Snake Micrurus tener

The great diversity of modern snakes appeared in the Paleocene, correlating with the
adaptive radiation of mammals following the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs. There
are over 2,900 species of snakes ranging as far northward as the Arctic Circle in
Scandinavia and southward through Australia and Tasmania.[2] Snakes can be found on
every continent (with the exception of Antarctica), dwelling in the sea, and as high as
16,000 feet (4900m)in the Himalayan Mountains of Asia.[2][21] There are numerous islands
from which snakes are conspicuously absent such as Ireland, Iceland, and New Zealand.
[21]

[edit] Skin
Main article: Snake scales

The skin of a snake is covered in scales. Contrary to the popular notion of snakes being
slimy because of possible confusion of snakes with worms, snakeskin has a smooth, dry
texture. Most snakes use specialized belly scales to travel, gripping surfaces. The body
scales may be smooth, keeled, or granular. Snake's eyelids are transparent "spectacle"
scales which remain permanently closed, also known as brille.

The shedding of scales is called ecdysis, or, in normal usage moulting or sloughing. In the
case of snakes, the complete outer layer of skin is shed in one layer.[22] Snake scales are
not discrete but extensions of the epidermis hence they are not shed separately, but are
ejected as a complete contiguous outer layer of skin during each moult, akin to a sock
being turned inside out.[23]
A line diagram from G.A. Boulenger's Fauna of British India (1890) illustrating the
terminology of shields on the head of a snake

Moulting serves a number of functions – firstly, the old and worn skin is replaced,
secondly, it helps get rid of parasites such as mites and ticks. Renewal of the skin by
moulting is supposed to allow growth in some animals such as insects, however this view
has been disputed in the case of snakes.[23][24]

A snake shedding its skin

Moulting is repeated periodically throughout a snake's life. Before a moult, the snake
stops eating and often hides or moves to a safe place. Just before shedding, the skin
becomes dull and dry looking and the eyes become cloudy or blue-colored. The inner
surface of the old outer skin liquefies. This causes the old outer skin to separate from the
new inner skin. After a few days, the eyes clear and the snake "crawls" out of its old skin.
The old skin breaks near the mouth and the snake wriggles out aided by rubbing against
rough surfaces. In many cases the cast skin peels backward over the body from head to
tail, in one piece like an old sock. A new, larger, and brighter layer of skin has formed
underneath.[23][25]

An older snake may shed its skin only once or twice a year, but a younger, still-growing
snake, may shed up to four times a year.[25] The discarded skin gives a perfect imprint of
the scale pattern and it is usually possible to identify the snake if this discard is
reasonably complete and intact.[23] This periodic renewal has led to the snake being a
symbol of healing and medicine, as pictured in the Rod of Asclepius.[26]

The shape and number of scales on the head, back and belly are characteristic to family,
genus and species. Scales have a nomenclature analogous to the position on the body. In
"advanced" (Caenophidian) snakes, the broad belly scales and rows of dorsal scales
correspond to the vertebrae, allowing scientists to count the vertebrae without dissection.

Scalation counts are also used to tell the sex of a snake when the species is not readily
sexually dimorphic. A probe is inserted into the cloaca until it can go no further. The
probe is marked at the point where it stops, removed, and compared to the subcaudal
depth by laying it alongside the scales.[8] The scalation count determines whether the
snake is a male or female as hemipenes of a male will probe to a different depth (usually
longer) than the cloaca of a female.[8]

[edit] Perception

Thermographic image of a snake eating a mouse.

[edit] Eyesight

Snake vision varies greatly, from as good as blind to keen eyesight, but the main trend is
that their vision is adequate although not sharp, and allows them to track movements.[27]
Generally, vision is best in arboreal snakes and weakest in burrowing snakes. Some
snakes, such as the Asian vine snake (genus Ahaetulla), have binocular vision, with both
eyes capable of focusing on the same point. Most snakes focus by moving the lens back
and forth in relation to the retina, while in the other amniote groups, the lens is stretched.

[edit] Smell

Snakes use smell to track their prey. It smells by using its forked tongue to collect
airborne particles then passing them to the Jacobson's organ or the Vomeronasal organ
in the mouth for examination.[28] The fork in the tongue gives the snake a sort of
directional sense of smell and taste simultaneously.[28] The snake keeps its tongue
constantly in motion, sampling particles from the air, ground, and water analyzing the
chemicals found and determining the presence of prey or predators in its local
environment.[28]

[edit] Vibration sensitivity

The part of the body which is in direct contact with the surface of the ground is very
sensitive to vibration, thus a snake is able to sense other animals approaching through
detecting faint vibrations in the air and on the ground.[28]

[edit] Infrared sensitivity

Pit vipers, pythons, and some boas have infrared-sensitive receptors in deep grooves
between the nostril and eye, although some have labial pits on their upper lip just below
the nostrils (common in pythons) which allow them to "see" the radiated heat.[28] Infrared
sensitivity helps snakes locate nearby prey, especially warm-blooded mammals.

[edit] Internal organs

Anatomy of a snake. 1 esophagus, 2 trachea, 3 tracheal lungs, 4 rudimentary left lung, 5

right lung, 6 heart, 7 liver, 8 stomach, 9 air sac, 10 gallbladder, 11 pancreas, 12 spleen, 13
intestine, 14 testicles, 15 kidneys.

As with all reptiles, snakes are ectothermic.

The snake's heart is encased in a sac, called the pericardium, located at the bifurcation of
the bronchi. The heart is able to move around, however, owing to the lack of a
diaphragm. This adjustment protects the heart from potential damage when large ingested
prey is passed through the esophagus. The spleen is attached to the gall bladder and
pancreas and filters the blood. The thymus gland is located in fatty tissue above the heart
and is responsible for the generation of immune cells in the blood. The cardiovascular
system of snakes is also unique for the presence of a renal portal system in which the
blood from the snake's tail passes through the kidneys before returning to the heart.[29]

The vestigial left lung is often small or sometimes even absent, as snakes' tubular bodies
require all of their organs to be long and thin.[29] In the majority of species, only one lung
is functional. This lung contains a vascularized anterior portion and a posterior portion
which does not function in gas exchange.[29] This 'saccular lung' is used for hydrostatic
purposes to adjust buoyancy in some aquatic snakes and its function remains unknown in
terrestrial species.[29] Many organs that are paired, such as kidneys or reproductive organs,
are staggered within the body, with one located ahead of the other.[29] Snakes have no
colenary bladder or lymph nodes.[29]

[edit] Locomotion
The lack of limbs does not impede the movement of snakes, and they have developed
several different modes of locomotion to deal with particular environments. Unlike the
gaits of limbed animals, which form a continuum, each mode of snake locomotion is
discrete and distinct from the others, and transitions between modes are abrupt.[30][31]

[edit] Lateral undulation

See also: Lateral undulation

Lateral undulation is the sole mode of aquatic locomotion, and the most common mode
of terrestrial locomotion.[31] In this mode, the body of the snake alternately flexes to the
left and right, resulting in a series of rearward-moving 'waves'.[30] While this movement
appears rapid, snakes have been documented moving faster than two body-lengths per
second, often much less.[32] This mode of movement is similar to running in lizards of the
same mass.[33]

Terrestrial
Terrestrial lateral undulation is the most common mode of terrestrial locomotion
for most snake species.[30] In this mode, the posteriorly-moving waves push
against contact points in the environment, such as rocks, twigs, irregularities in
the soil, etc.[30] Each of these environmental objects, in turn, generates a reaction
force directed forward and towards the midline of the snake, resulting in forward
thrust while the
 Banded sea snake, Laticauda sp.
lateral components cancel out.[34] The speed of this movement depends upon the
density of push-points in the environment, with a medium density of about 8
along the snake's length being ideal.[32] The wave speed is precisely the same as
the snake speed, and as a result, every point on the snake's body follows the path
of the point ahead of it, allowing snakes to move through very dense vegetation
and small openings.[34]
Aquatic
When swimming, the waves become larger as they move down the snake's body,
and the wave travels backwards faster than the snake moves forwards.[35] Thrust is
generated by pushing their body against the water, resulting in the observed slip.
In spite of overall similarities, studies show that the pattern of muscle activation is
different in aquatic vs terrestrial lateral undulation, which justifies calling them
separate modes.[36] All snakes can laterally undulate forward (with backward-
moving waves), but only sea snakes have been observed reversing the pattern, i.e.
moving backwards via forward-traveling waves.[30]

[edit] Sidewinding

Mojave rattlesnake, sidewinding

See also: Sidewinding

Most often employed by colubroid snakes (colubrids, elapids, and vipers) when the snake
must move in an environment which lacks any irregularities to push against (and which
therefore renders lateral undulation impossible), such as a slick mud flat, or a sand dune.
Sidewinding is a modified form of lateral undulation in which all of the body segments
oriented in one direction remain in contact with the ground, while the other segments are
lifted up, resulting in a peculiar 'rolling' motion.[37][38] This mode of locomotion
overcomes the slippery nature of sand or mud by pushing off with only static portions on
the body, thereby minimizing slipping.[37] The static nature of the contact points can be
shown from the tracks of a sidewinding snake, which show each belly scale imprint,
without any smearing. This mode of locomotion has very low caloric cost, less than ⅓ of
the cost for a lizard or snake to move the same distance.[33] Contrary to popular beliefs,
there is no evidence that sidewinding is associated with hot sand.[37]

[edit] Concertina locomotion

See also: Concertina movement

When push-points are absent, but there is not enough space to use sidewinding because of
lateral constraints, such as in tunnels, snakes rely on concertina locomotion.[30][38] In this
mode, the snake braces the posterior portion of its body against the tunnel wall while the
front of the snake extends and straightens.[37] The front portion then flexes and forms an
anchor point, and the posterior is straightened and pulled forwards. This mode of
locomotion is slow and very demanding, up to seven times the cost of laterally undulating
over the same distance.[33] This high cost is due to the repeated stops and starts of portions
of the body as well as the necessity of using active muscular effort to brace against the
tunnel walls.

[edit] Rectilinear locomotion

See also: Rectilinear locomotion

The slowest mode of snake locomotion is rectilinear locomotion, which is also the only
one in which the snake does not need to bend its body laterally, though it may do so when
turning.[39] In this mode, the belly scales are lifted and pulled forward before being placed
down and the body pulled over them. Waves of movement and stasis pass posteriorly,
resulting in a series of ripples in the skin.[39] The ribs of the snake do not move in this
mode of locomotion and this method is most often used by large pythons, boas, and
vipers when stalking prey across open ground as the snake's movements are subtle and
harder to detect by their prey in this manner.[37]

[edit] Other

The movement of snakes in arboreal habitats has only recently been studied.[40] While on
tree branches, snakes use several modes of locomotion depending on species and bark
texture.[40] In general, snakes will use a modified form of concertina locomotion on
smooth branches, but will laterally undulate if contact points are available[40]. Snakes
move faster on small branches and when contact points are present, in contrast to limbed
animals, which do better on large branches with little 'clutter'[40].

Gliding snakes (Chrysopelea) of Southeast Asia launch themselves from branch tips,
spreading their ribs and laterally undulating as they glide between trees.[37][41][42] These
snakes can perform a controlled glide for hundreds of feet depending upon launch
altitude and can even turn in mid-air.[37][43]
[edit] Reproduction
Although a wide range of reproductive modes are used by snakes; all snakes employ
internal fertilization, accomplished by means of paired, forked hemipenes, which are
stored inverted in the male's tail.[44] The hemipenes are often grooved, hooked, or spined
in order to grip the walls of the female's cloaca.[44]

Most species of snake lay eggs, and most of those species abandon them shortly after
laying; however, individual species such as the King cobra actually construct nests and
stay in the vicinity of the hatchlings after incubation.[44] Most pythons coil around their
egg-clutches after they have laid them and remain with the eggs until they hatch.[45] The
female python will not leave the eggs, except to occasionally bask in the sun or drink
water and will generate heat to incubate the eggs by shivering.[45]

Some species of snake are ovoviviparous and retain the eggs within their bodies until
they are almost ready to hatch.[46][47] Recently, it has been confirmed that several species
of snake are fully viviparous, such as the boa constrictor and green anaconda, nourishing
their young through a placenta as well as a yolk sac, which is highly unusual among
reptiles, or anything else outside of placental mammals.[46][47] Retention of eggs and live
birth are most often associated with colder environments, as the retention of the young
within the female.[44][47]

[edit] Venom
See also: Snake venom

Vipera berus, one fang with a small venom stain in glove, the other still in place

Cobras, vipers, and closely related species use venom to immobilize or kill their prey.
The venom is modified saliva, delivered through fangs.[48] The fangs of 'advanced'
venomous snakes like viperids and elapids are hollow in order to inject venom more
effectively, while the fangs of rear-fanged snakes such as the Boomslang merely have a
groove on the posterior edge to channel venom into the wound. Snake venoms are often
prey specific, its role in self-defense is secondary.[48] Venom, like all salivary secretions,
is a pre-digestant which initiates the breakdown of food into soluble compounds allowing
for proper digestion and even "non-venomous" snake bites (like any animal bite) will
cause tissue damage.[49]
Certain birds, mammals, and other snakes such as kingsnakes that prey on venomous
snakes have developed resistance and even immunity to certain venom.[48] Venomous
snakes include three families of snakes and do not constitute a formal classification group
used in taxonomy. The term poisonous snake is mostly incorrect – poison is inhaled or
ingested whereas venom is injected.[50] There are, however, two exceptions – Rhabdophis
sequesters toxins from the toads it eats then secretes them from nuchal glands to ward off
predators, and a small population of garter snakes in Oregon retains enough toxin in their
liver from the newts they eat to be effectively poisonous to local small predators such as
crows and foxes.[51]

Snake venoms are complex mixtures of proteins and are stored in poison glands at the
back of the head.[51] In all venomous snakes these glands open through ducts into grooved
or hollow teeth in the upper jaw.[48][50] These proteins can potentially be a mix of
neurotoxins (which attack the nervous system), hemotoxins (which attack the circulatory
system), cytotoxins, bungarotoxins and many other toxins that affect the body in different
ways.[50] Almost all snake venom contains hyaluronidase, an enzyme that ensures rapid
diffusion of the venom.[48]

Venomous snakes that use hemotoxins usually have the fangs that secrete the venom in
the front of their mouths, making it easier for them to inject the venom into their victims.
[50]
Some snakes that use neurotoxins, such as the mangrove snake, have their fangs
located in the back of their mouths, with the fangs curled backwards.[52] This makes it
both difficult for the snake to use its venom and for scientists to milk them.[50] Elapid
snakes, however, such as cobras and kraits are proteroglyphous, possessing hollow fangs
which cannot be erected toward the front of their mouths and cannot "stab" like a viper,
they must actually bite the victim.[53]

It has recently been suggested that all snakes may be venomous to a certain degree, the
harmless snakes having weak venom and no fangs.[54]

Snakes may have evolved from a common lizard ancestor that was venomous, from
which venomous lizards like the gila monster and beaded lizard may have also derived.
They share this venom clade with various other saurian species.

Venomous snakes are classified in two taxonomic families:


Elapids – cobras including king cobras, kraits, mambas, Australian copperheads,
sea snakes, and coral snakes.[52]

Viperids – vipers, rattlesnakes, copperheads/cottonmouths, adders and
bushmasters.[52]

There is a third family containing the opistoglyphous (rear-fanged) snakes as well as the
majority of other snake species:

Colubrids – boomslangs, tree snakes, vine snakes, mangrove snakes, although not
all colubrids are venomous.[49][52]
[edit] Interactions with humans
[edit] Snake bite

Main article: Snakebite

Although not venomous, this Green tree python (Morelia viridis) can still deliver a nasty
bite.

Snakes do not ordinarily prey on humans and most will not attack humans unless the
snake is startled or injured, preferring instead to avoid contact. With the exception of
large constrictors, non-venomous snakes are not a threat to humans. The bite of non-
venomous snakes is usually harmless because their teeth are designed for grabbing and
holding, rather than tearing or inflicting a deep puncture wound. Although the possibility
of an infection and tissue damage is present in the bite of a non-venomous snake;
venomous snakes present far greater hazard to humans.[49]

Documented deaths resulting from snake bites are uncommon. Non-fatal bites from
venomous snakes may result in the need for amputation of a limb or part thereof. Of the
roughly 725 species of venomous snakes worldwide, only 250 are able to kill a human
with one bite. Although Australia is home to the largest number of venomous snakes in
the world, it only has one fatal snake bite per year on average. In India, 250,000
snakebites are recorded in a single year with as many as 50,000 recorded initial deaths.[55]

The treatment for a snakebite is as variable as the bite itself. The most common and
effective method is through antivenom, a serum made from the venom of the snake.
Some antivenom is species specific (monovalent) while some is made for use with
multiple species in mind (polyvalent). In the United States for example, all species of
venomous snakes are pit vipers, with the exception of the coral snake. To produce
antivenin, a mixture of the venoms of the different species of rattlesnakes, copperheads,
and cottonmouths is injected into the body of a horse in ever-increasing dosages until the
horse is immunized. Blood is then extracted from the immunized horse and freeze-dried.
It is reconstituted with sterile water and becomes antivenin. For this reason, people who
are allergic to horses cannot be treated using antivenin. Antivenin for the more dangerous
species (such as mambas, taipans, and cobras) is made in a similar manner in India, South
Africa, and Australia with the exception being that those antivenins are species-specific.
[edit] Snake charmers

Main article: Snake charming

Indian cobra in a basket being charmed

In some parts of the world, especially in India, snake charming is a roadside show
performed by a charmer. In such a show, the snake charmer carries a basket that contains
a snake that he seemingly charms by playing tunes from his flutelike musical instrument,
to which the snake responds.[56] Snakes lack external ears, and though they do have
internal ears, they show no tendency to be influenced by music.[56]

Snake charming has a reputation for being cruel to the snakes themselves. Snakes are
taken from their natural habitats. The snakes fangs are often yanked out without
painkillers and their mouths are sewn shut, only leaving a tiny gap to pour milk and water
down.[57] The snakes often die slow, painful deaths.[58] Snake charming was so cruel that
the Indian Wildlife Law of 1972 banned snake charming. Other snake charmers also have
a snake and mongoose show, where both the animals have a mock fight; however, this is
not very common, as the snakes, as well as the mongooses, may be seriously injured or
killed.

[edit] Snake trapping

The tribals of "Irulas" from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in India have been hunter-
gatherers in the hot dry plains forests and have practiced this art for generations. They
have a vast knowledge of snakes in the field. Irulas generally catch the snakes with the
help of a simple stick. Earlier, the Irulas caught thousands of snakes for the snake-skin
industry. After the complete ban on snake-skin industry in India and protection of all
snakes under the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, they formed the Irula Snake
Catcher's Cooperative and switched to catching snakes for removal of venom, releasing
them in the wild after four extractions. The venom so collected is used for producing life-
saving antivenin, biomedical research and for other medicinal products.[59] The Irulas are
also known to eat some of the snakes they catch and are very useful in rat extermination
in the villages.

Despite the existence of snake charmers, there have also been professional snake catchers
or wranglers. Modern day snake trapping involves a herpetologist using a long stick with
a "V" shaped end. Some like Bill Haast, Austin Stevens, and Jeff Corwin prefer to catch
them using bare hands.

[edit] Consumption of snakes

While not commonly thought of as a dietary item by most cultures, in some cultures, the
consumption of snakes is acceptable, or even considered a delicacy, prized for its alleged
pharmaceutical effect of warming the heart. Snake soup of Cantonese cuisine is
consumed by local people in autumn, to warm up their body. Western cultures document
the consumption of snakes under extreme circumstances of hunger.[60] Cooked rattlesnake
meat is an exception, which is commonly consumed in parts of the Midwestern United
States. In Asian countries such as China, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and
Cambodia, drinking the blood of snakes, particularly the cobra, is believed to increase
sexual virility.[61] The blood is drained while the cobra is still alive when possible, and is
usually mixed with some form of liquor to improve the taste.[61]

In some Asian countries, the use of snakes in alcohol is also accepted. In such cases, the
body of a snake or several snakes is left to steep in a jar or container of liquor. It is
claimed that this makes the liquor stronger (as well as more expensive). One example of
this is the Habu snake sometimes placed in the Okinawan liquor Awamori also known as
"Habu Sake".[62]

[edit] Snakes as pets

In the Western world some snakes, especially docile species such as the ball python and
corn snake, are kept as pets. To supply this demand a captive breeding industry has
developed. Snakes bred in captivity tend to make better pets and are considered
preferable to wild caught specimens.[citation needed]. Snakes can be very low maintenance pets,
especially in comparison to more traditional species. They require minimal space, as most
common species do not exceed five feet in length. Pet snakes can be fed relatively
infrequently, usually once every five to fourteen days. Certain snakes have a life span of
more than forty years if given proper care.

[edit] Symbolism
Medusa by 16th Century Italian artist Caravaggio

Rod of Asclepius, in which the snakes, through ecdysis, symbolize healing.

Main article: Serpent (symbolism)

In Egyptian history, the snake occupies a primary role with the Nile cobra adorning the
crown of the pharaoh in ancient times. It was worshipped as one of the gods and was also
used for sinister purposes: murder of an adversary and ritual suicide (Cleopatra).

In Greek mythology snakes are often associated with deadly and dangerous antagonists,
but this is not to say that snakes are symbolic of evil; in fact, snakes are a chthonic
symbol, roughly translated as 'earthbound'. The nine-headed Lernaean Hydra that
Hercules defeated and the three Gorgon sisters are children of Gaia, the earth.[63] Medusa
was one of the three Gorgon sisters who Perseus defeated.[63] Medusa is described as a
hideous mortal, with snakes instead of hair and the power to turn men to stone with her
gaze.[63] After killing her, Perseus gave her head to Athena who fixed it to her shield
called the Aegis.[63] The Titans are also depicted in art with snakes instead of legs and feet
for the same reason—they are children of Gaia and Ouranos (Uranus), so they are bound
to the earth.

Three medical symbols involving snakes that are still used today are Bowl of Hygieia,
symbolizing pharmacy, and the Caduceus and Rod of Asclepius, which are symbols
denoting medicine in general.[26]
India is often called the land of snakes and is steeped in tradition regarding snakes.[64]
Snakes are worshipped as gods even today with many women pouring milk on snake pits
(despite snakes' aversion for milk).[64] The cobra is seen on the neck of Shiva and Vishnu
is depicted often as sleeping on a seven-headed snake or within the coils of a serpent.[65]
There are also several temples in India solely for cobras sometimes called Nagraj (King
of Snakes) and it is believed that snakes are symbols of fertility. There is a Hindu festival
called Nag Panchami each year on which day snakes are venerated and prayed to. See
also Nāga.

In Christianity and Judaism, the snake makes its infamous appearance in the first book
(Genesis 3:1) of the Bible when a serpent appears before the first couple Adam and Eve
as an agent of the devil and tempts them with the forbidden fruit from the Tree of
Knowledge. The snake returns in Exodus when Moses, as a sign of God's power, turns
his staff into a snake and when Moses made the Nehushtan, a bronze snake on a pole that
when looked at cured the people of bites from the snakes that plagued them in the desert.
The serpent makes its final appearance symbolizing Satan in the Book of
Revelation:"And he laid hold on the dragon the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan,
and bound him for a thousand years." (Revelation 20:2)

The Ouroboros is a symbol that is associated with many different religions and customs,
and is also claimed to be related to Alchemy. The Ouroboros or Oroboros is a snake
eating its own tail in a clock-wise direction (from the head to the tail) in the shape of a
circle, representing manifestation of one's own life and rebirth, leading to immortality.

The snake is one of the 12 celestial animals of Chinese Zodiac, in the Chinese calendar.

Many ancient Peruvian cultures worshipped nature.[66] They placed emphasis on animals
and often depicted snakes in their art.[67]

[edit] In religion
A snake associated with Saint Simeon Stylites.

Snakes are a part of Hindu worship. A festival Nag Panchami is celebrated every year on
snakes. Most images of Lord Shiva depict snake around his neck. Puranas have various
stories associated with Snakes. In the Puranas, Shesha is said to hold all the planets of the
Universe on his hoods and to constantly sing the glories of Vishnu from all his mouths.
He is sometimes referred to as "Ananta-Shesha" which means "Endless Shesha". Other
notable snakes in Hinduism are Ananta, Vasuki, Taxak, Karkotaka and Pingala. For
others names refer naga.

Snakes have also been widely revered, such as in ancient Greece, where the serpent was
seen as a healer, and Asclepius carried two intertwined on his wand, a symbol seen today
on many ambulances. In Judaism, the snake of brass is also a symbol of healing, of one's
life being saved from imminent death (Book of Numbers 26:6–9). In Christianity, Christ's
redemptive work is compared to saving one's life through beholding the serpent of brass
(Gospel of John 3:14). However, more commonly in Christianity, the serpent was seen as
a representative of evil and sly plotting, which can be seen in the description in Genesis
chapter 3 of a snake in the Garden of Eden tempting Eve.

In Neo-Paganism and Wicca, the snake is seen as a symbol of wisdom and knowledge.

[edit] See also

Cupisnique Snake. 200 B.C.Larco Museum Collection Lima, Peru.

Snakes

 Snake skeleton
 Venomous snake
 List of snakes
 List of Serpentes families
 Limbless vertebrates
Snakes in culture

 Snakebot
 Snake-arm robot
 Snake oil
 Exploding snake
 Snake Shyam
 Snakes on a Plane
 Serpent Mound
 Nahash
 Solid Snake

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41. ^ Freiberg(1984). p.135
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 44. ^ a b c d Capula (1989), p.117
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46. ^ a b Capula (1989), p.118
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51. ^ a b Freiberg (1984), p.123
52. ^ a b c d Freiberg (1984), pp.126
53. ^ Mehrtens (1987), p.242
54. ^ Fry, Brian G; Vidal, Nicholas; Norman, Janette A.; Vonk, Freek J.; Scheib,
Holger; Ramjan, Ryan & Kuruppu, Sanjaya (2006), "Early evolution of the
venom system in lizards and snakes.", Nature (Letters) 439: 584–588,
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55. ^ Sinha, Kounteya (25 Jul 2006), "No more the land of snake charmers...", The
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56. ^ a b Bagla, Pallava (April 23, 2002). "India's Snake Charmers Fade, Blaming Eco-
Laws, TV", National Geographic News. Retrieved on 2007-11-26.
57. ^ http://blog.peta.org/archives/2008/08/taking_the_char.php
58. ^ http://blog.peta.org/archives/2008/08/taking_the_char.php
59. ^ Whitaker, Romulus & Captain, Ashok. Snakes of India: The Field Guide.(2004)
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[edit] References
 Serpentes (TSN 174118). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved
on 6 December 2007.
 Bebler, John L. (1979). The Audubon Society Field Guide to Reptiles and
Amphibians of North America. Alfred A. Knopf, 581. ISBN 0394508246.
 Bullfinch, Thomas (2000). Bullfinch's Complete Mythology. London: Chancellor
Press, 679. ISBN 0753703815.
  Capula, Massimo; Behler (1989). Simon & Schuster's Guide to Reptiles and
Amphibians of the World. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0671690981.
 Coborn, John (1991). The Atlas of Snakes of the World. New Jersey: TFH
Publications.
 Cogger, Harold (1992). Reptiles & Amphibians. Sydney: Weldon Owen. ISBN
0831727861.
 Conant, Roger (1991). A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians Eastern/Central
North America. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN
0395583896.
 Deane, John (1833). The Worship of the Serpent. Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger
Publishing, 412. ISBN 1564598985.
 Ditmars, Raymond L (1906). Poisonous Snakes of the United States: How to
Distinguish Them. New York: E. R. Sanborn, 11.
 Ditmars, Raymond L (1931). Snakes of the World. New York: Macmillan, 11.
ISBN 978-0025317307.
 Ditmars, Raymond L (1933). Reptiles of the World: The Crocodilians, Lizards,
Snakes, Turtles and Tortoises of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. New
York: Macmillan, 321.
 Ditmars, Raymond L (1935). Snake-Hunters' Holiday.. New York: D. Appleton
and Company, 309.
 Ditmars, Raymond L (1939). A Field Book of North American Snakes. Garden
City,New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co, 305.
 Freiberg, Dr. Marcos (1984). The World of Venomous Animals. New Jersey: TFH
Publications. ISBN 0876665679.
 Gibbons, J. Whitfield (1983). Their Blood Runs Cold: Adventures With Reptiles
and Amphibians. Alabama: University of Alabama Press, 164. ISBN 978-
0817301354.
 Mattison, Chris (2007). The New Encyclopedia of Snakes. New Jersey: Princeton
University Press, 272. ISBN 978-0691132952.
 McDiarmid, RW (1999). Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and
Geographic Reference 1. Herpetologists' League, 511.
 Mehrtens, John (1987). Living Snakes of the World in Color. New York: Sterling.
ISBN 0806964618.
 Romulus Whitaker (English edition); Tamil translation by O.Henry Francis
(1996). நம்மை சுட்ரியுள்ள பாம்புகள் (Snakes around us, Tamil). National
Book Trust. ISBN 81-237-1905-1.
 Rosenfeld, Arthur (1989). Exotic Pets. New York: Simon & Schuster, 293. ISBN
067147654.
 Spawls, Steven (1995). The Dangerous Snakes of Africa. Sanibel Island, Florida:
Ralph Curtis Publishing, 192. ISBN 0883590298.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Serpentes
 Biodiversity Heritage Library bibliography for Serpentes
 Integrated Taxonomic Information System (USDA)
 US Snakes on eNature
 Snakes of the Indian Subcontinent
 European Snakes – Large DB and Pictures about snakes
 Venomous Snakes Information Community
 Snake Cell – An organization for wellbeing of snakes (INDIA)
 Snake World – Several Types of Snakes
 What's That Snake? Snake Identification Tool (OPLIN)
 Swedish Museum of Natural History Herpetology Database

[hide]
v • d • e
Snake families

Chordata • Reptilia • Squamata

Acrochordidae • Aniliidae • Anomochilidae • Atractaspididae • Boidae •

Alethinophidia Bolyeriidae • Colubridae • Cylindrophiidae • Elapidae • Loxocemidae •
Pythonidae • Tropidophiidae • Uropeltidae • Viperidae • Xenopeltidae

Scolecophidia Anomalepididae • Leptotyphlopidae • Typhlopidae

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q=tbn:gJ8wvW0MIYL9rM:http://homepage.ntlworld.com/tezmitch/images/BlackKingsn
akeLampGetNigJW.jpg

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake"

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Lizard
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Not to be confused with House lizard or Gecko.
For other uses, see Lizard (disambiguation).
Lizard
Fossil range: Jurassic - Recent

Central bearded dragon, Pogona vitticeps

 Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Superclass: Tetrapoda
Class: Sauropsida
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Lacertilia*
Günther, 1867
Families

Many, see text.

Lizards are a large and widespread group of reptiles of the order Squamata, with nearly
5,000 species and ranging across all continents except Antarctica. Most lizards have four
limbs, external ears, and a tail. Many lizards can shed their tails in order to escape from
predators, although this trait is not universal. Vision, including color vision, is
particularly well developed in lizards, and most communicate with body language or
bright colors on their bodies as well as via pheromones. The adult length of species
within the order range from a few centimeters for some Caribbean geckos to nearly three
meters in Komodo Dragons.

Contents
[hide]
 1 Description
 2 Senses and communication
 3 Evolution and relationships
 4 Relationship to humans
 5 Classification

 6 References

[edit] Description
Any generic description of lizards is often complicated by the fact that many typical
lizard traits are either retentions from their evolutionary ancestors (such as the basic, 4-
limbed, tetrapod body form) or are either lost or changed in some species (loss of limbs,
loss of external ears, loss of the tail, etc.)
Common chamaeleon Chamaeleo chamaeleon

Lizards are reptiles, and universally possess scaly skin and a skull with many fused or
reduced bones. Most lizards retain the typical tetrapod body plan of a short neck, four
limbs of roughly equal size ending in five toes each, a moderately long body, and a long
tail. Most lizards possess external ears and have movable eyelids. Encompassing forty
families, there is tremendous variety in colour, appearance and size. Most lizards are
oviparous, though a few species are viviparous. Many are also capable of regeneration of
lost limbs or tails. Almost all lizards are carnivorous, though most are so small that
insects are their primary prey. About 120 species (3%) are known to be herbivorous.[1] A
few species are omnivorous, and others have reached sizes where they can prey on other
vertebrates. Many lizards are good climbers or fast sprinters. Some can run bipedally,
such as the collared lizard, and some can even run across the surface of water to escape,
namely the basilisk. Many lizards can change colour in response to their environments or
in times of stress. The most familiar example is the chameleon, but more subtle colour
changes occur in other lizard species as well, such as the anole, also known as the
"American chameleon," "house chameleon" or "chamele".

Some lizard species, including the glass lizard and flap-footed lizards, have lost their legs
or reduced them to the point they are non-functional. However, some vestigial structures
remain. Snakes, which evolved from the ancestors of monitor lizards, are characterized
by lack of eyelids, lack of an external ear, a forked tongue, and having a highly elongate
body (as opposed to a normal body but extremely long tail). While any given legless
lizard species (of which there are many) may match on one or two of these
characteristics, they invariably differ from snakes in others. For example, flap-footed
lizards lack eyelids as do true snakes, but can be distinguished by their external ears.

Lizards are part of the reptile family, meaning that they have no inner means of achieving
homeostatis. As a result, they must keep careful watch of their body temperature. This
need requires lizards to live in areas with consistently high temperatures. Lizards are
rarely seen in the upper half of the United States and most European countries.

[edit] Senses and communication

Green iguanas (Iguana iguana), are popular exotic pets.

Lizards employ many diverse methods of communication. Like many other animals, they
have an acute sense of smell, detecting scents of their prey or pheromones from other
lizards. The primary organ of scent in lizards is a vomeronasal organ in the roof of the
mouth, and lizards gather scents by flicking out their tongues, then retracting them and
delivering the captured odor molecules to this organ. Some large carnivorous lizards,
such as tegus and monitor lizards, have forked tongues like snakes, to take advantage of
this organ better. As a result, many male lizards possess enlarged pores on the underside
of their thighs, which they rub against objects to mark their territory.

While most lizards can hear well, few are capable of vocalizations or otherwise making
noise. The exception to this rule is the geckos, which communicate through a wide
variety of barks, chirps and whistles, with each species having specific patterns and
sounds.

Sight is quite important for most lizards, both for locating prey and for communication,
and as such, many lizards have highly acute color vision. Most lizards rely heavily on
body language, using specific postures, gestures and movements to define territory,
resolve disputes, and entice mates. Some species of lizard also utilize bright colors, such
as the iridescent patches on the belly of Sceloporus. These colors would be highly visible
to predators, so are often hidden on the underside or between scales and only revealed
when necessary.

A particular innovation in this respect is the dewlap, a brightly colored patch of skin on
the throat, usually hidden between scales. When a display is needed, the lizards erect the
hyoid bone of their throat, resulting in a large vertical flap of brightly colored skin
beneath the head which can be then used for communication. Anoles are particularly
famous for this display, with each species having specific colors, including patterns only
visible under ultraviolet light, as lizards can often see UV.

[edit] Evolution and relationships

Frill-necked lizard Chlamydosaurus kingii

The retention of the basic tetrapod body form by lizards makes it tempting to assume any
similar animal, alive or extinct, is also a lizard. However, this is not the case, and lizards
are part of a well-defined group.

The first reptile was superficially lizard-like, but had a solid, box-like skull, with
openings only for eyes, nostrils, etc (termed Anapsid).[citation needed] These organisms later
gave rise to two new groups with additional holes in the skull to make room for and
anchor larger jaw muscles.[citation needed] Those with a single hole, the Synapsids, became
modern mammals.[citation needed] The Diapsids, possessing two holes, continued to diversify.
[citation needed]
The Archosaurs retained the basic Diapsid skull, and gave rise to a bewildering
array of animals, most famous being the dinosaurs and their descendants, birds.[citation needed]
The Lepidosaurs began to reduce the skull bones, making the skull lighter and more
flexible.[citation needed] Modern tuataras retain the basic Lepidosaur skull, distinguishing them
from true lizards in spite of superficial similarities.[citation needed] Squamates, including
snakes and all true lizards, further lightened the skull by eliminating the lower margin of
the lower skull opening.[citation needed]

[edit] Relationship to humans

Most lizard species are harmless to humans. Only the very largest lizard species pose
threat of death; the Komodo dragon, for example, has been known to stalk, attack, and
kill humans. The venom of the Gila monster and beaded lizard is not usually deadly but
they can inflict extremely painful bites due to powerful jaws. The chief impact of lizards
on humans is positive as they are significant predators of pest species; numerous species
are prominent in the pet trade; some are eaten as food (for example, Green Iguanas in
Central America); and lizard symbolism plays important, though rarely predominant roles
in some cultures (e.g. Tarrotarro in Australian mythology). The Moche people of ancient
Peru worshiped animals and often depicted lizards in their art.[2] According to a popular
legend in Maharashtra, a Common Indian Monitor, with ropes attached, was used to scale
the walls of the Sinhagad fort in the Battle of Sinhagad.[3]

[edit] Classification
Plumed Basilisk, Basiliscus plumifrons

Zebra-tailed Lizard, Callisaurus draconoides

Red-headed rock agama, Agama agama

Gila monster, Heloderma s. suspectum

Green tree monitor lizard, Varanus prasinus

Suborder Lacertilia (Sauria) - (Lizards)

 Family Bavarisauridae
 Family Eichstaettisauridae
 Infraorder Iguania
o Family Arretosauridae
o Family Euposauridae
o Family Corytophanidae (casquehead lizards)
o Family Iguanidae (iguanas and spinytail iguanas)
o Family Phrynosomatidae (earless, spiny, tree, side-blotched and horned
lizards)
o Family Polychrotidae (anoles)
 Family Leiosauridae (see Polychrotinae)
o Family Tropiduridae (neotropical ground lizards)
 Family Liolaemidae (see Tropidurinae)
 Family Leiocephalidae (see Tropidurinae)
o Family Crotaphytidae (collared and leopard lizards)
o Family Opluridae (Madagascar iguanids)
o Family Hoplocercidae (wood lizards, clubtails)
o Family Priscagamidae
o Family Isodontosauridae
o Family Agamidae (agamas)
o Family Chamaeleonidae (chameleons)
 Infraorder Gekkota
o Family Gekkonidae (geckos)
o Family Pygopodidae (legless lizards)
o Family Dibamidae (blind lizards)
 Infraorder Scincomorpha
o Family Paramacellodidae
o Family Slavoiidae
o Family Scincidae (skinks)
o Family Cordylidae (spinytail lizards)
o Family Gerrhosauridae (plated lizards)
o Family Xantusiidae (night lizards)
o Family Lacertidae (wall lizards or true lizards)
o Family Mongolochamopidae
o Family Adamisauridae
o Family Teiidae (tegus and whiptails)
o Family Gymnophthalmidae (spectacled lizards)
 Infraorder Diploglossa
o Family Anguidae (glass lizards)
o Family Anniellidae (American legless lizards)
o Family Xenosauridae (knob-scaled lizards)
 Infraorder Platynota (Varanoidea)
o Family Varanidae (monitor lizards)
o Family Lanthanotidae (earless monitor lizards)
o Family Helodermatidae (gila monsters & beaded lizards)
 o Family Mosasauridea (marine lizards)

[edit] References
1. ^ Cooper WE, Vitt LJ (2002). "Distribution, extent, and evolution of plant
consumption by lizards". J. Zool. 257: 487–517.
2. ^ Berrin, Katherine & Larco Museum. The Spirit of Ancient Peru:Treasures from
the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera. New York: Thames and Hudson,
1997.
3. ^ Auffenberg, Walter (1994). The Bengal Monitor. University Press of Florida,
494. ISBN 0813012953.

General references
 Byiiuo, John L. (1979). The Audubon Society Field Guide to Reptiles and
Amphibians of North America. Alfred A. Knopf, 581. ISBN 0394508246.
 Capula, Massimo; Behler (1989). Simon & Schuster's Guide to Reptiles and
Amphibians of the World. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0671690981.
 Cogger, Harold (1992). Reptiles & Amphibians. Sydney: Weldon Owen. ISBN
0831727861.
 Conant, Roger (1991). A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians Eastern/Central
North America. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN
0395583896.
 Ditmars, Raymond L (1933). Reptiles of the World: The Crocodilians, Lizards,
Snakes, Turtles and Tortoises of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. New
York: Macmillian, 321.
 Freiberg, Dr. Marcos (1984). The World of Venomous Animals. New Jersey: TFH
Publications. ISBN 0876665679.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Sauria
 Gibbons, J. Whitfield (1983). Their Blood Runs Cold: Adventures With Reptiles
and Amphibians. Alabama: University of Alabama Press, 164. ISBN 978-
0817301354.
 Rosenfeld, Arthur (1989). Exotic Pets. New York: Simon & Schuster, 293. ISBN
067147654.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lizard"

Categories: Lizards | Animals that can change color
Hidden categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced
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Wildlife
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

For other uses, see Wildlife (disambiguation).
This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be
challenged and removed. (August 2007)

Various species of deer are commonly seen wildlife across the Americas and Eurasia.

Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals, and other organisms.

Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times
all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and
negative.
Wildlife can be found in all ecosystems, Deserts, rainforests, plains, and other areas—
including the most developed urban sites—all have distinct forms of wildlife. While the
term in popular culture usually refers to animals that are untouched by human factors,
most scientists agree that wildlife around the world is impacted by human activities.

Humans have historically tended to separate civilization from wildlife in a number of

ways including the legal, social, and moral sense. This has been a reason for debate
throughout recorded history. Religions have often declared certain animals to be sacred,
and in modern times concern for the natural environment has provoked activists to protest
the exploitation of wildlife for human benefit or entertainment. Literature has also made
use of the traditional human separation from wildlife.

Contents
[hide]
 1 Food
 2 Religion
 3 Television
 4 Tourism
 5 Destruction
o 5.1 Overkill
o 5.2 Habitat destruction and fragmentation
o 5.3 Impact of introduced species
o 5.4 Chains of extinction
 6 See also

 7 Notes

[edit] Food
Anthropologists believe that the Stone Age peoples and hunter-gatherers relied on
wildlife, both plant and animal, for their food. In fact, some species may have been
hunted to extinction by early human hunters. Today, hunting, fishing, or gathering
wildlife is still a significant food source in some parts of the world. In other areas,
hunting and non-commercial fishing are mainly seen as a sport or recreation, with the
edible meat as mostly a side benefit.[citation needed] Meat sourced from wildlife that is not
traditionally regarded as game is known as bushmeat. The increasing demand for wildlife
as a source of traditional food in East Asia is decimating populations of sharks, primates,
pangolins and other animals, which they believe have aphrodisiac properties.

[edit] Religion
Many wildlife species have spiritual significance in different cultures around the world,
and they and their products may be used as sacred objects in religious rituals. For
example, eagles, hawks and their feathers have great cultural and spiritual value to Native
Americans as religious objects.

[edit] Television
Wildlife has long been a common subject for educational television shows. National
Geographic specials appeared on CBS beginning in 1965, later moving to ABC and then
PBS. In 1963, NBC debuted Wild Kingdom, a popular program featuring zoologist
Marlin Perkins as host. The BBC natural history unit in the UK was a similar pioneer, the
first wildlife series LOOK presented by Sir Peter Scott, was a studio-based show, with
filmed inserts. It was in this series that David Attenborough first made his appearance
which led to the series Zoo Quest during which he and cameraman Charles Lagus went to
many exotic places looking for elusive wildlife -- notably the Komodo dragon in
Indonesia and lemurs in Madagascar. Since 1984, the Discovery Channel and its spinoff
Animal Planet in the USA have dominated the market for shows about wildlife on cable
television, while on PBS the NATURE strand made by WNET-13 in New York and
NOVA by WGBH in Boston are notable. See also Nature documentary. Wildlife
television is now a multi-million dollar industry with specialist documentary film-makers
in many countries including UK, USA, New Zealand NHNZ, Australia, Austria,
Germany, Japan, and Canada.

[edit] Tourism
Fuelled by media coverage and inclusion of conservation education in early school
curriculum, Wildlife tourism & Ecotourism has fast become a popular industry
generating substantial income for developing nations with rich wildlife specially , Africa
and India. This ever growing and ever becoming more popular form of tourism is
providing the much needed incentive for poor nations to conserve their rich wildlife
heritage and its habitat.

[edit] Destruction
Map of early human migrations, according to mitochondrial population genetics.
Numbers are millennia before the present.

This subsection focuses on anthropogenic forms of wildlife destruction.

Exploitation of wild populations has been a characteristic of modern man since our
exodus from Africa 130,000 – 70,000 years ago. The rate of extinctions of entire species
of plants and animals across the planet has been so high in the last few hundred years it is
widely considered that we are in the sixth great extinction event on this planet; the
Holocene Mass Extinction.

Destruction of wildlife does not always lead to an extinction of the species in question,
however, the dramatic loss of entire species across Earth dominates any review of
wildlife destruction as extinction is the level of damage to a wild population from which
there is no return.

The four most general reasons that lead to destruction of wildlife include overkill, habitat
destruction and fragmentation, impact of introduced species and chains of extinction.[1]

Overkill

Overkill occurs whenever hunting occurs at rates greater than the reproductive capacity
of the population is being exploited. The effects of this are often noticed much more
dramatically in slow growing populations such as many larger species of fish. Initially
when a portion of a wild population is hunted, an increased availability of resources
(food, etc) is experienced increasing growth and reproduction as Density dependent
inhibition is lowered. Hunting, fishing and so on, has lowered the competition between
members of a population. However, if this hunting continues at rate greater than the rate
at which new members of the population can reach breeding age and produce more
young, the population will begin to decrease in numbers.
Populations in confined to islands – whether literal islands or just areas of habitat that are
effectively an “island” for the species concerned – have also been observed to be at
greater risk of dramatic population declines following unsustainable hunting.

[edit] Habitat destruction and fragmentation

The habitat of any given species is considered its preferred area or territory. Many
processes associated human habitation of an area cause loss of this area and the decrease
the carrying capacity of the land for that species. In many cases these changes in land use
cause a patchy break-up of the wild landscape. Agricultural land frequently displays this
type of extremely fragmented, or relictual, habitat. Farms sprawl across the landscape
with patches of uncleared woodland or forest dotted in-between occasional paddocks.

Examples of habitat destruction include grazing of bushland by farmed animals, changes

to natural fire regimes, forest clearing for timber production and wetland draining for city
expansion.

[edit] Impact of introduced species

Mice, cats, rabbits, dandelions and poison ivy are all examples of species that have
become invasive threats to wild species in various parts of the world. Frequently species
that are uncommon in their home range become out-of-control invasions in distant but
similar climates. The reasons for this have not always been clear and Charles Darwin felt
it was unlikely that exotic species would ever be able to grow abundantly in a place in
which they had not evolved. The reality is that the vast majority of species exposed to a
new habitat do not reproduce successfully. Occasionally, however, some populations do
take hold and after a period of acclimation can increase in numbers significantly, having
destructive effects on many elements of the native environment of which they have
become part.

[edit] Chains of extinction

This final group is one of secondary effects. All wild populations of living things have
many complex intertwining links with other living things around them. Large herbivorous
animals such as the hippopotamus have populations of insectivorous birds that feed off
the many parasitic insects that grow on the hippo. Should the hippo die out so to will
these groups of birds, leading to further destruction as other species dependent on the
birds are affected. Also referred to as a Domino effect, this series of chain reactions is by
far the most destructive process that can occur in any ecological community.

[edit] See also

 Biodiversity  List of wildlife Ecology portal
 Biosphere artists
Environment portal
Expeditions  National Wildlife
  Conservation Federation Find more about Wildlife on
biology  Natural Wikipedia's sister projects:
 Conservation environment
ecology  Natural history Dictionary definitions
 Endangered  Nature
species  Ornithology
Textbooks
 Ex-situ  Wildlife disease
conservation  Wildlife gardening
Quotations
 In-situ  Wildlife
conservation management
Source texts
 Ecology
 Gene pool  Wildness
 Genetic pollution Images and media

 Genetic erosion News stories

Learning resources

[edit] Notes
1. ^ Diamond, J. M. (1989). Overview of recent extinctions. Conservation for the
Twenty-first Century. D. Western and M. Pearl. New York, Oxford University
Press: 37-41.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildlife"

Categories: Biology | Ecology | Conservation | Wildlife | Eukaryotes
Hidden categories: Articles needing additional references from August 2007 | All articles
with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007

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