Snakes are a cold-blooded creature in nature that many people fear, because they look dangerous, but they are not safe at all!How many rumors have you heard about snakes?How much do you know about them?
If you want to know more about snakes, then follow in the footsteps and take a look!The following content will use the perspective of popular science to reveal some true and false rumors about snakes.
Tips: Some of the following content may cause discomfort to some people, please choose carefully for the faint of heart**!The article is mainly to convey some popular science knowledge, without any other guidance.
1. Snakes eating yellow eels are equivalent to the same endIs it true or false?
There is a saying among the people of our country that a snake eating a yellow eel is equivalent to finding its own death!Because the yellow eel likes to burrow, it will drill out of the snake's body;Even if it is a poisonous snake, after eating the yellow eel again, the body will become stiff after the death of the yellow eel, causing the snake to be unable to digest or move, and eventually it can only die!
I believe that many people may have heard such rumors, and they agree with it, and some people even believe it, so is this statement true or false?
In fact, this is completely a folk rumor, and the facts are not true. The snake is a very digestive animal, its stomach acid can not only digest and dissolve the flesh and fur of many animals, even for some animal bones that are not fully digested, it will continue to squeeze through the abdominal cavity, some incompletely digested food residues or objects that it thinks are difficult to swallow, slowly move to the mouth and spit out of the body. For example, some snakes often use the squeezing of their abdominal muscles to squeeze the eggs after devouring eggs or bird eggs, and then spit out the eggshells.
Snakes are omnivorous carnivores, to digest the flesh of some animals is naturally not a problem, their recipes are also more extensive, and like to eat loach eel snakes there are a lot, such as domestic silver snakes, mud snakes and so on.
In addition, many snakes sometimes go into the water to fish, but it is very difficult for most people to come into contact with the scene of their hunting in the water. When food resources are not very scarce, they are not willing to consume too much energy in the body, so they rarely choose to go into the water to hunt, they do not rely on their gills to breathe freely in the water like fish, they must surface for ventilation after diving for a period of time, including sea snakes that hunt in the water all year round.
Moreover, some common frogs, birds, lizards, rats and other snakes in life can basically maintain their survival needs, so there is no need to waste physical energy at all.
Therefore, the snake eating the yellow eel is tantamount to looking for its own deathIt's one of a kind entirelyFolk rumors cannot be taken seriously
Second, the snakes with triangular snake heads are all poisonous snakesIs it true or false?
In fact, this is also a rumor, and it may have even been written into some popular science books to teach everyone how to distinguish poisonous snakes from non-venomous snakes.
However, some popular science books at that time were relatively one-sided about the study of snakes, and later more and more people believed it to be true and had a one-sided stereotype of snakes.
Most of the triangular-headed snakes (such as the famous five-step snake in China) are the basic characteristics of the viper family and the pit viper subfamily, and of course most of them do belong to poisonous snakes.
Then why do you say that the snakes with triangular heads are poisonous snakes, which is a wrong cognitive concept?
We can prove it by giving a counter-example!For example, the domestic neck-necked snake is a non-venomous snake.
Many people may have seen this snake in their lives, and many people also call them pseudo-pit vipers because of their body color patterns with many round spots, which are often mistaken for short-tailed pit vipers or round spotted vipers. Later, with the deepening of scientific research and the popularization of some knowledge, everyone slowly understood it and knew that the snake was a non-venomous snake, but it was a bit bluffing in appearance!
Another example is some pythons, in fact, their head features are roughly triangular, but they are also some non-venomous snakes, so it is not accurate to distinguish them from the head characteristics of snakes as venomous and non-venomous.
3. It is common to see snakes burrowing holes, and snakes will make holes on their own, is this true?
This is still a folk myth that snakes don't actually burrow on their own, but they often burrow into various burrows for survival or hunting purposes, which may be misleading for some people.
Due to the need for survival, snakes often use some tree holes, or some rocky piles, wall holes or other natural caves as their habitat or hibernation place. They will also enter some rat holes to hunt for food, as long as they feel that the burrows in some terrain areas are suitable, relatively hidden and safe. They will even encroach on the nests dug by other animals, and the snakes themselves will not burrow.
In addition to these tree holes and wall holes, they sometimes choose to use some firewood piles or dead leaves as their temporary habitat and breeding grounds.
If you find a thick layer of dead leaves, weeds or various burrows in the wild, don't be curious to dig and play, because it may not be rats and other animals that live in it, it is likely to be some snakes, which are really dangerous!
Friends who are still using firewood to cook in rural areas are recommended to wear a pair of thick gloves when going to get firewood, or use a rake to test it in advance, which can reduce certain safety hazards.
Fourth, after the head of the snake is beheaded, why can it still "live"?Is this true?
After the head of the snake is beheaded, can it still live?Of course it's impossible!Because its body's oxygen and blood supply system has been severely damaged, it can't really survive anymore.
But one of the characteristics of cold-blooded animals such as snakes is that their carcasses still have some neuromuscular active movements even after separation, so it feels like they won't die right away!
If you encounter this situation, I advise you not to touch the head of the poisonous snake because of your curiosity!They are still very aggressive for a short period of time, and you can still be poisoned if bitten.
The body of the snake is not venomous, and the venom of the snake is in the venom glands of the head of the venomous snake. Even after being separated, its central nervous system still controls the muscles to produce a certain stress response!
According to scientists' research, the activity of the snake's head in a room temperature environment, its muscle nerve activity can still be maintained for about half an hour, if it is stored in a low temperature environment, its activity may be maintained even longer, as long as it is bitten, it can still be squeezed by the compression muscle and excrete venom along the fangs.
There have been many cases of accidents in China that have been bitten by snakeheads due to careless handling!Here is a warning to those who like to eat snake meat, don't touch it easily because of a moment of curiosity. It's best not to eat some game, because you should have heard a lot about the possible consequences, and the infection of some parasitic diseases alone is often shocking!
Fifth, snake wine can be drunk casually and will not be poisoned!Is this true?
There is really no specific answer to whether snake wine is poisonous or not, but I still advise all friends that it is best not to try to drink it directly, because it may be poisoned!
Although the component of snake venom is a protein composed of a variety of biological enzymes, its toxicity will also change with the change of environmental temperature and various external factors, so it is basically impossible to accurately determine whether some snake wine is poisonous or not.
Even if alcohol has a certain anti-virus and sterilizing effect, it will also lose some of the bactericidal and anti-virus effects due to the relationship between alcohol concentration and sealing.
I have also heard that some friends in China have soaked in snake wine for a few months, and when they opened the snake wine and planned to drink it, they found that the poisonous snake had not died yet!But from a scientific point of view, I think this possibility is still possible.
If you use some homemade other liquors, the alcohol content is less than 50 degrees, and the sealing environment is not good, the snake wine may not play the role of sterilization and poisoning, and snakes can indeed go without eating for a long time, and prolong and maintain their life cycle by reducing the low energy consumption of the body, so I think this possibility is not impossible.
Although the main ingredient of snake venom is a protein, theoretically it will not be poisoned if eaten by mistake, but it is not possible to prevent you from having oral mucosa rupture or other reasons to dissolve some toxins and some capillaries in the blood, resulting in a toxic reaction.
If you have to use snake wine, it's safer to rub it outside!Is snake wine poisonous or not?It is impossible to blindly judge, be cautious!Be cautious!Be cautious!That's my advice to everyone.
6. Poisonous snakes and non-venomous snakes can be determined by the pupils of the snake's eyes!The pupils of non-venomous snakes are round, and the pupils of venomous snakes are erect!Is this true or false?
This statement is also false, the difference between a venomous snake and a non-venomous snake, from the snake's pupil is extremely inaccurate, we can casually cite counterexamples.
For example, some snakes of the cobra family, their pupils are round, can you say that it is not venomous?Take the silver krait, for example, how poisonous it is, I think basically everyone knows.
Although many snakes with vertical pupils are indeed poisonous, not all snakes with vertical pupils are poisonous snakes, such as some large non-venomous pythons, although they have vertical pupils, they are not venomous.
In addition to these two types, there are also some snakes whose pupils are horizontal, such as the green thin snake that is also distributed in China, how should you determine it?
Therefore, it is impossible to accurately distinguish between venomous snakes and non-venomous snakes by observing only from the pupils of snakes, and this statement is also a rumor.
7. The smaller the venomous snake, the more venomous it is, is this true or false?
I have heard many people say that the smaller the snake venom, the more venomous, especially those venomous snakes that have just come out of the shell, once bitten by it, because these small snakes do not know how to control the amount of their venom injected, so they excrete more venom than some adult snakes, and the poison is more violent!
In fact, this is completely a rumor!According to scientists' research, the venom composition of the same kind of venomous snake is basically the same, and the toxicity of the small snake is higher than that of the adult snakeMoreover, the amount of poison excreted by the snake is roughly proportional to the size of the snake, which means that among the same kind of venomous snakes, the larger the snake, the greater the amount of poison excreted.
And not all snakes are hatched from snake eggs, and in nature, there are many snakes and mammals that are born from the oviparous womb of a female snake after conception.
However, venomous snakes that are usually hatched from snake eggs and break their shells are often born with fangs and venom, which are also essential skills for their survival. Therefore, in the future, in life, we should try not to touch and play with these little snakes, after all, if you are bitten by them, it may also pose a threat to life!
8. Is it true that cobras can spray poison?
In life, many people often confuse cobras and king cobras, in fact, they are not the same kind of snakes, but they also belong to the cobra family, king cobras can excrete part of the venom by squeezing the venom glands, but the distance is not far, so it cannot be called will spray poison, and there are some species of cobras in the cobra will spray venom but it is real!
However, you don't have to worry too much, the venom-spraying cobras that can spew venom are not in our country, they are mostly some cobras living in Africa and southeast Asia, these snakes due to a long period of natural evolution, so that they gradually have this skill, and there are only a dozen cobras with this skill.
The compression muscles near the venom glands of the cobra are more developed, they can squeeze the venom glands, transport the venom to the front end of the groove teeth, and then apply pressure through the abdominal air, and at the same time work with the compression muscles of the venom glands to increase the pressure in the fangs pipe, so as to eject the venom out!They can shoot venom at distances of more than 2 meters, which is primarily a means of survival defense.
They are also particular about the direction of their poisoning, and they will adjust the distance of their heads to spray venom towards the opponent's eyes to deter opponents and prevent predators, so as to gain more opportunities to escape.
If the venom comes into contact with the human eye, it can cause temporary blindness or worse, and if it comes into contact with the blood from the wound, it can also put the person's life at risk.
So it's true that cobras spew venom, but not all cobras spew venom!
That's all for a brief introduction, what other snake mysteries do you know?Welcome to leave a message in the comment area**!See you next time for more details!