How Snakes Work

­ There are 2,700 known snake species, and the reptiles all share the following characteristics:

Snakes look like legless lizards for a reason -- the two reptiles make up the order Squamata, which is divided into the suborders Sauria for lizards and Serpentes (or Ophidia) for snakes. Because of their long shape, snakes' organs are arranged linearly, but they are otherwise similar to those of other vertebrates, including people. The bone-encased brain and sensory organs are contained in the head, and snakes have almost all the senses people do -- with a few interesting modifications:

The digestive tract runs nearly the entire length of the body and includes the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine and anus -- all stretchable to digest prey larger than a snake's diameter (See Feeding section). When the snake's mouth is full, it has to extend its trachea (breathing tube) below the food and out in order to keep breathing. Snakes do not have a diaphragm like people do, so they circulate air in and out of the lungs by narrowing the rib cage to push air out and then widening it again to create a vacuum to suck air in. After each breathing cycle, snakes experience apnea -- a stop in breathing -- that lasts from a few seconds to as long as a few minutes. To process the oxygen, all snakes have an elongated right lung; many also have a smaller left lung, and a few even have a third lung along the trachea.

Snakes range from 4 inches (10 cm) to more than 30 feet (9 meters) in length. Hundreds of tiny vertebrae and ribs span this distance and connect to each other through an intricate system of muscles, creating unrivaled flexibility (See Getting Around section). An extremely elastic skin attaches to the muscles and is covered with scales made of keratin -- the same substance as human fingernails. The scales are produced by the epidermis, the outer layer of skin. As the snake grows, the number and the pattern of its scales stay the same, although a snake's scales are shed many times over the course of its life.

Unlike people, who shed worn-out skin constantly in tiny pieces, snakes shed all of their scales and outer skin in one piece during a process called molting. When the skin and scales start to wear down from time or injury, the epidermis begins to create new cells to separate the old skin from the developing inner layer. The new cells liquefy, making the outer layer soften. When the outer layer is ready to shed, the snake scrapes the edges of its mouth against a hard surface, such as a rock, until the outer layer begins to fold back around its head. It continues scraping and crawling until it is completely free of the dead skin. The molting process, which takes about 14 days, is repeated after anywhere from a few days to a few months.

Like people, snakes grow quickly until they reach maturity, which can take one to nine years; however, their growth, though much slowed after maturity, never stops. It's a phenomenon known as indeterminate growth. Depending on the species, snakes can live from four to more than 25 years.

The key to snakes' agility -- hundreds of vertebrae and ribs -- is closely related to the key to their locomotion: ventral scales. These specialized rectangular scales line the underside of a snake, corresponding directly with the number of ribs. The bottom edges of the ventral scales function like the tread on a tire, gripping the surface and propelling the snake forward.

Snakes have four basic methods of movement:

Although snake species have different methods of finding and catching prey, all snakes eat in basically the same way. Their amazingly expandable jaws enable them to prey on animals of much larger size -- and swallow them whole. Whereas the upper jaw of a human is fused to the skull and therefore unable to move, a snake's upper jaw is attached to its braincase by muscles, ligaments and tendons, allowing it some front-to-back and side-to-side mobility. The upper jaw connects to the lower jaw by the quadrate bone, which works like a double-jointed hinge so the lower jaw can dislocate, allowing the mouth to open as wide as 150 degrees. Also, the bones that make up the sides of the jaws are not fused together at the front like the human chin, but instead are connected by muscle tissue, allowing the sides to separate and move independently of one another. All of this flexibility comes in handy when a snake encounters prey bigger than its head -- its head can stretch to accommodate it.

Once a snake is ready to eat, it opens its mouth wide and begins to "walk" its lower jaw over the prey as its backward-curving teeth grip the animal -- one side of the jaw pulls in while the other side moves forward for the next bite. The snake drenches the prey with saliva and eventually pulls it into the esophagus. From there, it uses its muscles to simultaneously crush the food and push it deeper into the digestive tract, where it is broken down for nutrients.

Even with all of these advantages, eating a live animal can be a challenge. Because of this, some snakes have developed the ability to inject venom into prey to kill or subdue the animal prior to eating it. Some venom even gives the digestion process a kick-start. Snakes with this effective tool must have an equally effect way of getting the poison into an animal's system: fangs.

At the front or back of their upper jaw, venomous snakes have two sharp teeth that are hollowed out to allow the poison to pass through. Once a snake strikes, inserting these teeth into its prey, venom is squeezed from a gland under each eye into the venom duct -- where it passes more glands that release compounds thought to make the venom more effective -- and out through the venom canal in the fangs.

In non-venomous, constrictor snakes, the teeth are stationary; in snakes with long (grooved) fangs, the teeth fold backward into the mouth when not in use -- otherwise, the snake would puncture the bottom of its own mouth.

Although the venomous snake species -- which make up only one fifth of all snakes -- each have their own special brew, the following are the three most important types of toxins found in snake venom:

Some venom may also include agglutinins, which make the blood clot, or anticoagulants, which make the blood thin. Most snake venom makes use of several of these compounds for a deadly combined effect. A few snakes squeeze the life out their prey in another way -- constriction. Once a snake has the animal firmly in the grip of its jaws, it loops its body in coils around the prey. When the animal exhales, letting the air out of its body cavity, the snake contracts its powerful system of muscles to tighten the coils, squeezing the body so that the animal cannot breathe in again. According to a Carnegie Mellon University study in 2002, depending on its size, a constrictor can apply 6 to 12 pounds of pressure per square inch. Although this pressure suffocates the prey by compressing the lungs, it can also have the same effect on the heart, speeding up death significantly.

One might think having no limbs would put a damper on the love life, but not for snakes. When a female snake is ready to mate, she begins to release a special scent (pheromones) from skin glands on her back. As she goes about her daily routine, she leaves an odor trail as she pushes off resistance points on the ground (See Getting Around). If a sexually mature male catches her scent, he will follow her trail until he finds her. The male snake begins to court the female by bumping his chin on the back of her head and crawling over her. When she is willing, she raises her tail. At that point, he wraps his tail around hers so the bottoms of their tails meet at the cloaca -- the exit point for waste and reproductive fluid. The male inserts his two sex organs, the hemipenes, which then extend and release sperm. Snake sex usually takes under an hour, but it can last as long as a whole day.

Female snakes reproduce about once or twice a year; however, the methods of birth vary among species. Some snakes give birth to live young (from one to 150 at a time), while others lay eggs (from one to 100 at a time); some even combine these methods by holding eggs internally until they hatch, and the babies are born live. For the most part, female snakes do not sit on their eggs like a hen, but in some cases they will protect their eggs (and their young) for a few days after they leave the mother's body.