snake

a kind of animal – reptile – legless – meat-eating – coldblooded (‘coldblooded’ = the temperate (heat) of the body depends on the weather condition – the advanced name for ‘coldblooded’ is ‘ectothermic’) – egg-laying (some species give birth to live young) – long, elongated  (slender) body covered in scales, each species in its own colour and pattern, flat, pointed head with round clear eyes without eye-lids, large mouth with a long forked tongue, teeth-like growth (only to hold the prey from escaping, not for biting or chewing), (in some venomous (poisonous) species) two sharp hollow down-ward curved teeth, called ‘fangs’, on the upper jaw with which to bite and inject venom into prey; loosely joined jaws which can be opened wide to swallow prey, long, pointed tail; size: (varies widely) from less than 4 inches to 33 feet long, and weight: from a few grams to 400 Kg; feeds on (eats) insects, mice, rats, lizards, monkeys, birds and bird eggs, (some large species) deer, antelope, buffalo, (some water-living species) shellfish, fish, (some large species) other smaller snakes; lives for, on average, 10-15 years (some species live for 20-25 years); about 2,900 species (some animal experts put the figure at 3,100 species), found on all the continents, except Antarctica {However, no snakes are found (not native to) Hawaii, Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand and Bermuda (?).}

Snakes are of three categories (groups): land snakes, tree snakes, water snakes!

Snakes are of three types: venomous (poison in the bite); constrictors (do not bite but coils [winds] around the prey and squeezes it to death); and non-venomous (just grabs the prey and swallows it live)!

male ~~ male

female ~~ female

baby ~~ snakelet

group ~~ bed, knot, slither

voice ~~ hiss

home ~~ den, pit, nest

movement ~~ crawl, creep, glide

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[BIZARRE SNAKE -- SNAKE NEWS -- Sept. 16, 2009 -- Ninemsn news:

An elderly Chinese woman who discovered a snake with a clawed hand protruding from its body was so scared she beat it to death, according to reports.

Xiu Qiong Duan, 68, told the SINA Beijing news agency she woke up in the middle of the night to find the snake clinging to the wall of her bedroom.]

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