Snakes are weird, what with their lack of legs and their forked tongues that they’re constantly flicking. Stop flicking your tongues, snakes! Who even smells with a tongue?! Still, the more we learn about snakes, the more we realize that they’re not so different from people. Sure, they don’t “Pick up their own dry cleaning!” or “Walk their miniature schnauzers!” But, really, they’re just like us.
They give birth to live babies!
Well, about 30 per cent of them do. Some snakes, such as garter snakes, are viviparous: they don’t lay eggs that hatch outside their bodies. They birth their young’uns, like mammals. This is more common with snakes that live in cold climates. (It’s harder to keep the eggs warm.)
They change their clothes!
Snakes shed their skins in one continuous layer multiple times in their lives, though they shed more frequently when they’re juveniles. The skin becomes too tight, like a torso-to-toe bodysuit that doesn’t fit anymore. And is really no longer in fashion.
They scarf their food!
Who hasn’t crushed an entire bag of Sour Cream & Onion and then immediately regretted the decision? Snakes’ teeth aren’t designed for chewing. They can only swallow food whole and have their stomach acid break it down. Sometimes, a snake will regurgitate undigested food because the meal was too big. Which, well, we know that feeling, snakes. It’s called Thanksgiving dinner.
They get nervous on airplanes!
Probably, right? Why else would they cause Samuel L. Jackson so much grief in Snakes on a Plane? Get these mother-freakin’ snakes some in-flight entertainment!
This article was originally published in the March/April 2023 issue of Cottage Life.
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