Snakes

Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes. Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints than their lizard ancestors and relatives, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads (cranial kinesis). To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most only have one functional lung. Some species retain a pelvic girdle with a

alt=pythons|thumb|Indian python (Python molurus) The Pythonidae, commonly known as pythons, are a family of nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia. Among its members are some of the largest snakes in the world. Ten genera and 39 species are currently recognized. Being naturally non-venomous, pythons must constrict their prey to induce cardiac arrest prior to consumption. Pythons will typically strike at and bite their prey of choice to gain hold of it; they then must use physical strength to constrict their prey, by coiling their muscular bodies around the animal, effectively

Cobra is the common name of various venomous snakes, most of which belong to the genus Naja.

thumb|alt=A man, tied to a cliff, cowers at a snake menacing at him from inches away.|The Punishment of Loki by J. Doyle Penrose Ophidiophobia () or ophiophobia () is fear of snakes. It is sometimes called by the more general term herpetophobia, fear of reptiles. The word comes from the , and .

prehistoric effigy mound in Ohio, United States

mythological symbol

practice of appearing to hypnotise a snake

A snake-stone, also known as a '''viper's stone, snake's pearl, black stone, serpent-stone, or nagamani''' is an animal bone or stone used as folk medicine for snake bite in Africa, South America, the Indian subcontinent and Asia.

sensory organ in snakes for heat sensing

a pit of snakes

thumb | right Constriction is a method used by several snake species to kill or subdue their prey. Although some species of venomous and mildly venomous snakes do use constriction to subdue their prey, most snakes which use constriction lack venom. The snake strikes at its prey and holds on, pulling the prey into its coils or, in the case of very large prey, pulling itself onto the prey. The snake then wraps one or two loops around the prey, forming a constriction coil. The snake monitors the prey's heartbeat to ascertain it is dead. This can be a physically demanding and potentially dangerous

name given to the four venomous snake species responsible for causing the greatest number of medically significant human snake bite cases on the Indian Subcontinent

Ophiophagy (Greek: , ) is a specialized form of feeding or alimentary behavior of animals which hunt and eat snakes. There are ophiophagous mammals (such as the skunks and the mongooses), birds (such as snake eagles, the secretarybird, coucals and some hawks), lizards (such as the common collared lizard), and even other snakes, such as the Central and South American mussuranas and the North American common kingsnake. The venomous king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) is also named for this habit.

place where snakes are bred

serpent that only appears in myths and legends

species of reptile