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What You Might Not Know About Snakes
“The serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth” — at least that’s the Bible’s take on this remarkable group of reptiles. Be that as it may, they are certainly one of the most supple of animals and there are plenty of other things about snakes that certainly make them stand out from the crowd.
Whether you’ve been keeping snakes for years, or you’re a real beginner, there’s always something new to learn — and snakes are nothing if not full of surprises.
More Than Meets The Eye
Of course, the most obvious thing about snakes is the fact that they have no legs, but that alone doesn’t make them unique. Many animals have adopted a legless body — often to help with a burrowing lifestyle — including a number of their lizard relatives, such as the slow worm, the Scheltopusik and many kinds of skinks, as well as the likes of the earthworm.
Behind the unblinking stare of your pet, however, lies something entirely unusual, since the eye of the snake has a whole range of features that are quite unlike anything found elsewhere in nature.
As anyone who has seen a shed snake skin knows, each eye is covered with a single transparent window scale, but it’s not just the fact that they don’t have eyelids like other reptiles that makes them so different. Internally…