When we think of limbless, elongated and elastic monkeys, nearly instantly snakes come to mind, and most people when considering snakes quickly distinguish 2 Key types of snakes:
- Venomous snakes, capable of creating and injecting snake venom through technical teeth called fangs.
- Non-venomous snakes, so that lack the venom but make for it with absolute muscular power they use to subdue and kill their prey.
You can find approximately 2900 species of snakes and from those nearly 700 are deemed venomous. Many snake species are considered harmless to people and venom that’s poisonous enough to kill a person isn’t even produced by venomous species.
For the non-venomous snakes it’s about power and size. A little constrictor like the black racer snake isn’t capable of killing a person, that’s why Hollywood snake movies will feature green anacondas or even pythons.
Snakes like all animal species are classified with taxonomy, and belong to the suborder Serpentes, which is furthermore divided into many families. Read on to know a few fundamental facts about the various families of rodents:
Elapidae — Elapid snakes
These snakes are mostly located in the tropical and subtropical regions of the planet including the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. These are a few the most venomous snakes on earth. They’ve a feature which can be their fixed, hollow fangs, which they use to inject venom. Their potent venom is neurotoxic, also causes damage and can be potentially fatal in several species of Elapid snakes.
The sea snakes, are also considered elapids by some taxonomists although others consider it as another family of venomous snakes altogether, the Hydrophiidae. The sea lions evolved and adapted in ways that were various. In order that they can use it for swimming, their tails are flattened and may excrete salt.
A few of the top known snakes at the Elapidae family comprise the Black Mamba, Indian Cobra, King Cobra, Cape Cobra, Green Mamba and sea snakes like the Belcher’s Sea Snake or Olive Sea Snake.
Viperidae — Viperid snakes
Viperidae and also the vipers are additional important family of venomous snakes, found from the Americas, Africa and Eurasia. They’re also the only venomous snakes.
The snake species within this family are famous for their feature long, hinged hollow fangs, the opposite of the elapids that have fixed fangs. The viper’s fangs extend and can retract use the fangs remain folded back from the cap of the snake’s mouth.
When the snake opens its mouth for a bite, the fangs extend and get into the biting position. A sub-family is called pit vipers because of their heat sensing pits.
Commonly known viper snake species incorporate the Russell’s Viper, Saw-scaled Viper, Gaboon Viper, and the western diamondback rattlesnake.
Colubridae – Colubrid snakes
The colubrid snakes belong to the Colubridae family and are called the greatest snake household. But these are snakes or they create toxic venomweak to cause any harm to individuals.
However, there are a few deadly exceptions, such as the boomslang or even the twig snake, whose snacks are well known to have caused human fatalities. The colubrid snakes possess their fangs located not in the front but at the back of the mouth, this is the reason they are also referred as snakes. Contrary to even the vipers or the elapids, their fangs are not hollow, but simply grooved to channel the venom if a sting is delivered.
Some typical cases of colubrid snakes incorporate the california kingsnake, boomslang, Corn Snake and the Black Rat Snake.
Boidae – Boa snakes
This snake family contains just non-venomous, however there are some big and potent constrictor snakes. Are some of the biggest snakes in the world capable of absorbing large animals or a buck like the capybara!
These snakes rely solely upon their power to suffocate and kill their prey, unlike the venomous species which use venom as their principal weapon.
They don’t have fangs to inject venom but rows of sharp teeth in their upper and lower jaws. It is very interesting how their preys are killed by these reptiles. It appears to tighten their grip each time that the victim breathes out when the snake coils around a victim.
Scientists believe the snakes may feel the sufferer’s heartbeat, and as soon as it stops the stop squeezing and start eating the prey whole. They can be found in America, Africa, Europe, Asia, and some Pacific Islands.
A number of the popular species would be the emerald tree boa, green anaconda, boa constrictor or the US native rubber boa.
Pythonidae – Python snakes
Exactly like the Boidae family, the Pythonidae family also comprises large non-venomous snakes, which kill their prey by constriction. It’s very easy to be confused involving pythons and boas. Though a number have almost the identical feeding habits and of them have a similar look there are quite a few features that are characteristic that set them apart.
The pythons are all oviparous so that they lay eggs, while most boa species give birth to live young, they are ovoviviparous. Additionally their geographic distribution differs, pythons habitats are far somewhat much less comprehensive than that of boas.
Some common examples python snakes include the african rock python, reticulated python, green tree python or even the burmese python.
