WEBVTT - Oh No, Snakes! 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:04.280 Welcome to you Stuff you Should Know from House Stuff 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:13.080 Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm 0:00:13.160 --> 0:00:17.119 Josh Clark, There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant, There's Jerry the 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:23.320 Stuff you Should Know, the Snake Edition, Snake Bliskin Edition, 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:28.000 oh Man, good character, especially if you know, like it 0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:30.240 had to have been something of a joke to selected 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:34.000 Kurt Russell because he was I guess I don't know 0:00:34.040 --> 0:00:36.360 whether that came before after the thing, do you. I 0:00:36.360 --> 0:00:38.720 think the thing was first? Okay, so I guess it 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:41.000 wasn't quite a big of a joke. But think earlier 0:00:41.040 --> 0:00:44.240 in his career, like Kurt Russell didn't even have friends. 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:47.720 He was like such a squeaky clean Walt Disney movie kid, 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:52.800 like all the all the normal kids hated him. Said yeah, 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:55.280 like he was just known as like this just can't 0:00:55.360 --> 0:00:59.680 do anything wrong, like like squeaky clean kid. Well, that 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:03.360 was my first R rated movie. Was Escaped from New York. Yeah, yeah, 0:01:04.040 --> 0:01:08.640 can you dig it? No? That was The Warriors. Yeah, no, 0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:11.240 I remember I called what it was on, like HBO 0:01:11.360 --> 0:01:12.920 or something. It wasn't even in the theater, and I 0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:16.120 called my mom to ask her if it was that's 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:18.920 how good of a boy that I was. You're like 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:22.600 Kurt Russell. Yeah, sure, I know you're by yourself because 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:26.400 you don't have any friends. Go ahead and watch that's funny. Yeah, 0:01:26.440 --> 0:01:29.040 man alive. That's a good snake story. You know that 0:01:29.080 --> 0:01:31.119 has nothing to do with snakes per se. Oh I've 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:33.520 got a good snake story for later. Oh well, I 0:01:33.600 --> 0:01:36.080 was gonna say lay it on est, but we'll wait. Yeah, 0:01:36.080 --> 0:01:39.080 I'm teasing that one. We'll wait patiently. All of you 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:44.600 who suffer from a little something called, oh video phobia, 0:01:45.360 --> 0:01:47.360 you can go ahead and skip this one because it's 0:01:47.360 --> 0:01:50.160 gonna creep you out. I'm not afraid of snakes, and 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:53.000 I'm still creeped out by some parts of this because 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:55.840 we're gonna get like down and dirty with snakes. Well, 0:01:56.000 --> 0:01:57.960 here's my deal, and I think we should say this 0:01:58.040 --> 0:02:01.280 as a public service. I get reaped out by snakes initially, 0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:03.800 and then I'm like, Okay, it's just a snake. But um, 0:02:04.320 --> 0:02:08.200 snakes are vilified and killed when they shouldn't be killed. Yeah, 0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:10.600 because people are scared of them and that ain't cool. 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:13.280 Years and years ago and the Uncle John's Bathroom Reader, 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:16.720 where I learned ninety percent of the stuff that I know. Um, 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:21.160 I read about a study of the snakes, like people 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:23.280 took a fake snake and put it in the road 0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:25.320 and then like hid behind some bushes and that's what 0:02:25.440 --> 0:02:29.600 people did. And allegedly people would run over the snake 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:32.079 and then back up and run over it again. And yeah, 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:35.480 according to the well according to Uncle John's Bathroom Reader. 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:39.480 But um yeah, I think people go out of their 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:42.400 way to kill snakes. Yeah. I know camps on campers 0:02:42.400 --> 0:02:44.720 who like that they're hiking will kill a snake if 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:48.800 they see it. Um bad campers. Yeah, that's not good, 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:52.040 especially considering only like five percent of snake species are 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:56.080 venomous and um, so it's pretty rare to come across 0:02:56.080 --> 0:02:59.799 a venomous snake. Uh. There are some out there that 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:04.680 will hurt you pretty bad, and we'll talk about those. Um. 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:08.320 But for the most part, most snakes either kill their 0:03:08.360 --> 0:03:13.960 prey by constricting or swallowing you whole while you're alive. 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:17.240 You're too big for most snakes to really take on, 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:20.360 so they're not gonna mess with you. Sure, but it 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:25.320 is there is a You can't really fault people necessarily, 0:03:25.520 --> 0:03:29.440 although you and I both do for just killing snakes. 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:34.880 Wantonly and indiscriminately. Um, because the study after study has 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:39.480 found that we are really, there's no other explanation, evolutionarily 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:44.520 primed to fear and notice snakes in our environment. Yeah, 0:03:44.560 --> 0:03:48.040 you found that cool article. And I've seen this before 0:03:48.280 --> 0:03:51.520 that um is unpopular science. Yeah, they've done studies that 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:55.240 showed that people are more apt because of we evolve 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:58.200 to not want to get killed by snakes, to see 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:02.720 snakes and like our peripheral visi and than almost anything else. Yeah, 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:05.480 even spiders, which people are creeped out by. Yeah. Well, 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:07.960 and also spiders are deadly too, so it would make 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:11.320 sense that over time, the people who were best at 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:15.080 recognizing spiders and getting away from them would live longer 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:18.120 to pass on their genes, and so through natural selection, 0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:21.440 that would be the case supposedly. Um, the same thing 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:24.240 happened with snakes. But we are even better at recognizing 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:28.839 snakes than spiders snake detection theory. Yeah. Pretty good band 0:04:28.920 --> 0:04:31.320 name it is. It's been a while since we had 0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:33.720 a good band name. It's definitely one of them. I 0:04:33.760 --> 0:04:37.240 just saw that on T shirt and a marquee simultaneously. 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:40.719 That means that's a good band name. So if you 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:42.839 want to know more about that whole study. You can 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:45.000 read about I think it was in the Lantern in 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:47.960 two thousand and ten. Or basically, it's like, yes, we 0:04:48.000 --> 0:04:50.160 can find a snake just about anywhere, even in our 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:54.240 peripheral vision, and we are scared of snakes, and rightfully so, Yeah, 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:56.520 I know, I feel like I'm primed when I'm camping 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:59.560 and hiking, just I'm just always sort of on the lookout. 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:02.800 I'm never just like daydreaming and walking. I'm always looking 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:05.120 at the ground. And that's smart, man, because they will 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:07.800 lay right across the trail and that they they're not 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:10.600 looking out for you, so you stumble upon them, and 0:05:10.640 --> 0:05:13.400 that's when an accident might happen. Yeah, the problem is 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:16.880 with snakes, you're looking at the ground. You better be 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:19.800 looking up to Like, if you're in the Amazon, a 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:22.440 lot of boa constrictors dangle from trees and then like 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:26.400 drop themselves down onto their prey, which includes monkeys, of 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:29.720 which you, my friend, are one's right, you know, So 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:32.040 if you had a boa constrictor that was feeling kind 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:34.920 of froggy, they might come at you. Or those flying 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:40.120 snakes that obviously cannot fly, but they glide down quite 0:05:40.120 --> 0:05:42.240 a way is in Sri Lanka, right, Yeah, if you've 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:45.960 seen these videos, Um, they leap from a tree and 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:49.560 start squiggling, and then they flatten their body out and 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:52.440 they can go a long way from where they started, 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:55.000 and it's not straight down, you know what I'm saying. 0:05:55.560 --> 0:06:00.080 So let's just re read, rephrase all this, let's restay it. 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:04.839 You and I disagree with killing snakes indiscriminately. It's just wrong. 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:11.800 But there is a healthy and understandable preternatural human fear 0:06:12.680 --> 0:06:17.200 of snakes, actually just natural human fear. Yea. Even Darwin 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:21.359 wrote about it. Oh yeah, he tried to do that test. Remember, like, 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:23.359 I'm not gonna jump when the snake jumps at me, 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:27.080 and he's like, keep jumping, and he's basically like it's 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:31.400 human instinct. Alright. So shall we start with snakes in 0:06:31.400 --> 0:06:33.920 general in earnest if they've been around a lot longer 0:06:33.920 --> 0:06:37.080 than we have. Yeah, there are twenty seven hundred known 0:06:37.120 --> 0:06:42.159 species of this reptile, and um, one thing you'll find 0:06:42.160 --> 0:06:44.640 in common with all of them is they all have 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:48.320 no limbs. That's something they can't wear a vest. I 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:51.600 can't wear vests because there's nowhere to put their thumbs right, 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:55.040 or there's no thumbs to put in the vest. No arms. 0:06:55.800 --> 0:06:57.600 Oh but I thought you meant just like you gotta 0:06:57.640 --> 0:06:59.559 have the thumbs in the vest too. Well, sure you gotta, 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:03.400 but I mean you have arms for to have the thumbs. 0:07:04.000 --> 0:07:08.240 That's from pe big adventure. Oh see, I just trampled 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:12.240 all over that thing. Um. They are carnivores means they 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:16.280 meet they eat meat. Um yeah, well, which includes you, 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:19.560 It includes meets. I'm just a big monkey. And they're 0:07:19.600 --> 0:07:24.280 cold blooded. They're ectothermic, which means their inner temperature varies, uh, 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:27.200 along with where they are. It fluctuates depending on how 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:31.240 hotter cold it is. And that's all snakes. And apparently 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:35.640 they tend to thrive. Um, well, all ectothermic animals tend 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:39.640 to thrive and get bigger in warm or climates too. Yeah, yeah, 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:41.480 that makes sense, which is why the biggest snakes you're 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:45.800 gonna find are in the tropics near the equator. Uh. 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:49.000 If you think they look like legless lizards, it's because 0:07:49.040 --> 0:07:52.320 they sort of are there from the same order, which 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:54.720 is Squamata, And then there are a couple of sub 0:07:55.160 --> 0:08:00.480 orders sorry for lizards and Serpentus for snakes or phidia, 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:05.560 which is where the phobia comes from, pobia, which is 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:10.120 the fear of snakes like serpentus better yes, orpentaphobias. Ways, 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:14.880 it just makes sense. Sure. Um. If you look at 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:16.640 a picture of a snake, which we have on this article, 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:19.360 there are some pretty good graphics. Uh. If you look 0:08:19.360 --> 0:08:22.360 at their body, it's pretty neat because even though they 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:26.520 look funny, they are not so different from us. They 0:08:26.560 --> 0:08:28.480 have bones, and they have organs, and they have a 0:08:28.640 --> 0:08:31.200 skull and a brain and their vertebrates. Yeah, it's all 0:08:31.200 --> 0:08:33.960 just sort of squished in that long body such that 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:36.439 it all sort of fits next to each other. Right. 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:40.240 The thing is, although they have like some the same 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:44.920 senses that we have. I noticed I'm making sounds more 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:50.760 than usual unconsciously in this episode, but subconscious exactly. They 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:53.080 have the same senses that we have in much the 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:57.079 same way, but they're um adjusted slightly differently like snakes. 0:08:57.120 --> 0:08:59.079 They don't have ears. Anybody who's ever looked at a 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:05.040 snake would flip out if you saw one with ears. Um, 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:07.679 But they do have the ability to hear. They just 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:11.640 have um. The sides of their skull have little um 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:15.800 specialized bones that the skin covers sound vibrations hit the skin, 0:09:15.880 --> 0:09:18.800 it's transferred to the bone and that transfers to uh 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:21.640 an auditory nerve where the brain processes it and says 0:09:22.040 --> 0:09:26.000 it's jack rabbit and I'm hungry, exactly going that way. Um. 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:29.520 Site they do not see in color, and depending on 0:09:29.600 --> 0:09:34.480 the snake's environment and where they how they live their life, basically, um, 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:37.000 their eyes are going to be quite different. Um. There 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:40.760 are rods that have a low light uh distinguishing It's 0:09:40.800 --> 0:09:43.160 like I sort of get the sense that it's like 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:48.280 the fuzzy, fuzzy looking shapes and things not super crystal clear. Yeah. Like, Um, 0:09:48.320 --> 0:09:51.280 that that camera trick they always use when somebody's coming 0:09:51.280 --> 0:09:56.079 out of anesthesia in the hospital blinks that. That is 0:09:56.120 --> 0:09:59.160 probably one of the types of site the cones produced 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:02.120 the clear images. And Um, if a snake like lives 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:04.199 in a cave in the dark for most of its life, 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:07.800 it's not gonna need that awesome vision, It's gonna just 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:10.520 have like that light and dark sense. If a snake 0:10:10.640 --> 0:10:13.600 lives above ground does all of its hunting above ground, 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:17.360 they have a really good vision and great depth perception. Yeah, 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:20.800 and can actually like adjust the focus from you know, 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:24.960 far away to near very easily, and they actually can 0:10:25.080 --> 0:10:29.320 see some color really just not like anything in the 0:10:29.440 --> 0:10:32.240 range that we can see, but they do have the 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:38.760 spectacular extra vision, yes, and for red stuff. Yeah. So basically, 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:41.880 if you seem predator snakes see you like that. Some 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:46.680 snakes do. Snake species, especially ones that live above ground, 0:10:46.800 --> 0:10:52.240 because they are frequently nocturnal and they hunt warm blooded animals, 0:10:52.600 --> 0:10:56.400 So they have basically little thermal imaging cameras that are 0:10:58.040 --> 0:11:00.600 on top of their normal vision. Yeah, and I think 0:11:00.640 --> 0:11:03.960 that helps their periphery a little bit as well, Like 0:11:04.000 --> 0:11:07.080 they'll just see like something hot next to me, what 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:12.920 snake is eating that monkey? You know? They make that 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:15.719 noise too, That was a great noise. Uh. And then 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:19.560 we'll round out the senses with smell um. They have 0:11:20.000 --> 0:11:23.520 little nasal openings and they have little olfactory chamber to 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:26.480 process that stuff. And they also have tongues which are 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:28.760 not there to taste because they don't have a sense 0:11:28.800 --> 0:11:33.800 of taste, which is yeah, they're just there to eat, 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:36.280 not to enjoy it. Yeah, so they'll like swallow a 0:11:36.320 --> 0:11:38.360 pick hoole and just be like, how was that. I 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:41.320 don't know, I don't have a sense of taste. I'm full, 0:11:41.720 --> 0:11:44.560 But they do. They do flick their tongue, as anybody knows, 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:47.280 and it's one of the defining characteristics of snakes. But 0:11:47.320 --> 0:11:50.560 what they're doing is gathering odorance out of the air 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:54.360 and delivering them to these little scent glands or scent 0:11:54.480 --> 0:12:00.360 organs called Jacobson's glands Jacobson's organs and um. The thing 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:03.760 is basically hooked up to a secondary old factory nerve 0:12:03.880 --> 0:12:08.040 that further interprets the air. Yes, sent, so I get 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:10.720 the feeling that smell. They're pretty pretty good at smelling. Yeah, 0:12:10.720 --> 0:12:14.920 two times over. That's um. Then they have their digestive tract, 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:16.760 which is going to run all along the length of 0:12:16.800 --> 0:12:19.280 the body. Um, I'm telling you, look at this graphic. 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:21.920 It's really kind of spells it out. Everything is just elongated. 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:25.680 It's a good died in the wool how stuff works. 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:29.880 Illustration Agreed. So you've got these, uh you know, you've 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:33.760 got your mouth, the esophagus, the stomach, small and large intestines. 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:37.760 You've got an anus, it's all stretched along the whole 0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:40.960 length of the body, right exactly. You've got a trachea. 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:44.520 You've got lungs, at least one lung some snakes up two. 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:47.319 Some even have a third. Yeah, and that's weird because um, 0:12:47.360 --> 0:12:49.160 I mean it makes sense if they would have three. 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:51.880 If they just have one, that's odd to me. The 0:12:51.920 --> 0:12:55.440 reason it's odd is because when snakes are digesting their food, 0:12:55.960 --> 0:12:59.800 their metabolic rate increases because they're often eating things that 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:06.120 can be fifty of their body weights. And when you're 0:13:06.160 --> 0:13:10.200 eating something that large and swallowing a whole, you're metabolic 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:13.000 rate goes into high gear. And you also need to 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:15.920 produce a lot more digestive fluids than you normally would, 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:18.959 so their oxygen consumption can increase by up to like 0:13:19.000 --> 0:13:21.640 a hundred times. So you would think that they would 0:13:21.640 --> 0:13:24.840 have like fifteen lungs, but apparently some of them just 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:28.880 have the one. But what is even more interesting, Chuck, 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:32.079 is when you have a like a whole rabbit just 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:35.800 in your mouth is completely full of a rabbit, you 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:39.480 still need to breathe, so they the snakes can actually 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:42.840 extend their tricky and they're breathing tube out of their 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:47.480 mouth from underneath their prey. Basically like um, one of 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:52.280 those like wildly coyote cartoons where I don't know if 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:55.040 he ever did, but bugs bunny definitely. Did you just 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:56.920 grab like a reed and use it as a straw 0:13:57.000 --> 0:14:00.439 from underwater? We'll imagine that if bugs anywhere in the 0:14:00.520 --> 0:14:04.640 snake's mouth, and that read was coming out from underneath them. 0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:07.760 That's the analogy I was going for. Uh. They also 0:14:07.800 --> 0:14:10.240 don't have a dire frame, which is pretty interesting. They 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:15.680 breathed by widening and narrowing their rib cage, literally creating 0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:18.840 a vacuum, pushing air in and sucking air, pushing her 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:21.360 out and sucking air back in, and between each of 0:14:21.360 --> 0:14:23.480 these cycles they actually stopped. They have an apnea that 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:26.400 occurs where they don't breathe at all, and sometimes it's 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:30.280 a few seconds, sometimes it's a few minutes. But um, 0:14:30.320 --> 0:14:33.920 that's how they breathe. It's crazy and cool. So I'm 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:37.320 I'm pretty much enthralled by now with snakes. I'm not 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:40.000 creeped out yet. We haven't really reached the creepy parts. 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:43.280 We'll get to those starting after we get back from 0:14:43.320 --> 0:15:06.000 this break. Chuck. Yes, you have the ability to shed 0:15:06.400 --> 0:15:10.400 dead skin cells pretty much constantly. It's always they're always 0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:12.560 sloughing off. Yeah, we had a great episode on that 0:15:13.160 --> 0:15:16.360 we did what was it a skin right? Yeah, but 0:15:16.520 --> 0:15:18.800 also did it come up? And does your body regenerate 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:22.000 itself every seven years or something? You're constantly doing that 0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:25.560 with skin cells. Snakes um shed their skin as well, 0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:30.160 but they do it in a completely different technique, and 0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:34.200 they mold. They actually shed their whole outer layers skin 0:15:34.320 --> 0:15:36.440 every once in a while. Yeah. Sometimes you'll see that 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:39.640 in the woods and you'll think, oh, well, there was 0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:43.280 a snake and now he's not here, but here's his 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:47.800 hollow body or hollow skin. Um. So what they have 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:50.880 is have an elastic skin that attaches to muscles, and 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:53.240 then the scales are made of keratin, the same thing 0:15:53.320 --> 0:15:58.560 that our fingernails are made from. And those actually they 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:02.280 the number of scales have doesn't change or the pattern 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:05.440 as they grow. I guess the scales just get larger. Yeah, 0:16:05.440 --> 0:16:09.760 and they they replace themselves over time. Yeah. Pretty interesting. Yeah. 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:13.560 So um, when the outer skin of the snakes starts 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:16.080 to get kind of worn down and banged up, the 0:16:16.120 --> 0:16:18.720 snake says it's time for some new ones. So they 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:23.560 start reproducing skin cells. But almost these um specialized skin 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:26.960 cells between their outer skin and their inner skin, and 0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:31.080 those things form this layer between the two and they liquefy, 0:16:31.120 --> 0:16:34.200 which helps kind of. Well, first it makes the outer 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:38.120 skin a little more um shed doble, softens it up, 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:41.560 but it also like separates it from the snake itself, 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:44.240 so they can eventually slide out of it. And it 0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:47.400 gets to a point where it starts like rubbing its 0:16:47.480 --> 0:16:50.280 chin against a rock like a kitty cat. Yeah, and 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:54.520 like um and like right and like uh, it ends 0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:57.840 up degloving its whole body. Basically, Man, you love that word. 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:01.760 It's a great descript it is. And it turns out 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:04.719 and we'll see this as we progress here. But snakes 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:07.560 use rocks and things a lot because they don't have limbs, 0:17:08.080 --> 0:17:10.160 and so they'll rub up against that thing, like you said, 0:17:10.200 --> 0:17:12.720 and just peel it off and just keep going until 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:15.000 the skin's all gone. And they're like, I got a 0:17:15.000 --> 0:17:17.800 new suit, check it out, check out my bow tie, 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:20.560 and I just have to do this again. How often? 0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:24.280 Well it depends, this article said, Um, it can happen 0:17:24.320 --> 0:17:27.600 anywhere from it can start again a few days later, 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:30.679 a few months later, a few days later. What a 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:33.480 useless species of snake that must be. Like all they 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:35.760 do is mold the whole time. Yeah, Because it takes 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:38.960 about two weeks to complete the molting process, So that 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:43.639 surprised me. They're consumed by the quest for looking young. Yeah, 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:47.120 maybe that's what it is. Um a few months later 0:17:47.200 --> 0:17:48.720 makes a little more sense to me. But and I 0:17:48.720 --> 0:17:50.639 think it could have been too on how banged up 0:17:50.680 --> 0:17:53.120 they get, Like maybe they're forced the molt a few 0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:56.280 days later, because it's something like a Steve McQueen snake 0:17:56.359 --> 0:18:02.160 would probably mold a lot um aches. Uh. They grow 0:18:02.400 --> 0:18:05.479 their entire life, which is another great fact to me, 0:18:05.560 --> 0:18:07.640 maybe the best one of the show, but that they 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:10.280 indeterminate growth. Yeah, they never stopped growing. No, they can 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:13.120 just keep growing and growing. Again, it depends on like 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:17.119 how ample their food supply is, what the ambient temperature 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:20.800 is in their environment. But they can just keep on growing. Yeah, 0:18:20.800 --> 0:18:22.800 this slows down, they don't grow at the same rate, 0:18:23.240 --> 0:18:26.760 but once they reach maturity, they keep on growing. They 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:30.720 can live anywhere from four to years depending on the species, 0:18:31.080 --> 0:18:34.800 and probably more than that or less depending on the 0:18:34.800 --> 0:18:39.119 hazards in the area. Yes, like people with machetes exactly. 0:18:39.440 --> 0:18:42.359 All right, are we to the part? And this I 0:18:42.400 --> 0:18:44.199 think is what creeps people out a little bit. It's 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:48.440 how snakes move that's definitely probably the creepiest part about it. 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:50.479 It's one of them. See, I think it's amazing. It 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:53.760 is slightly disconcerting to see because you're used to things 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:57.119 with legs and arms, but when you see that slithering motion, 0:18:57.680 --> 0:18:59.960 it definitely like I think for most people it's just 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:02.679 a little bit of a yeah, you know, but if 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:04.080 you stop and look at it, you're like, wow, they 0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:06.359 really have that down path. Yeah, it's a wonder of nature. 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:11.560 And there there. Snakes are able to locomote um. Because 0:19:12.080 --> 0:19:15.719 there we said they're vertebrates. Their bodies are made up 0:19:15.760 --> 0:19:19.159 of scores and scores and hundreds depending on the size 0:19:19.160 --> 0:19:23.120 and type of the snake, of um tiny vertebrae that 0:19:23.160 --> 0:19:26.320 are attached to pairs of ribs and it goes all 0:19:26.359 --> 0:19:30.240 throughout the snake's body. And basically each of these is 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:33.960 a point at which the snake can contort itself. You've 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:36.280 got a bunch of these working together in tandem. The 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:40.359 snake can propel itself forward using a number of different techniques. 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:43.639 They also have what amounts to on their bellies on 0:19:43.680 --> 0:19:49.040 their underside, basically tire tread ventral scales. It's pretty neat 0:19:49.080 --> 0:19:52.200 and those are used to just uh, I get the feeling. 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:54.760 They just grip on whatever it can grip on and 0:19:54.840 --> 0:19:57.240 help it along. So there's four main ways that a 0:19:57.320 --> 0:20:00.840 snake propels itself along. The one that um, I think 0:20:00.880 --> 0:20:04.320 most is most popular among snakes these days is the 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:09.359 serpentine motion. The serpentine motion, Yeah, the classic s shape 0:20:09.640 --> 0:20:14.560 also known as undulatory locomotion. And basically the net contracts 0:20:14.600 --> 0:20:17.280 its muscles and it the body is thrust from side 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:21.800 to side and um, it says I'm going, I'm going, 0:20:21.880 --> 0:20:24.320 and the snake just takes off like a rocket. Yeah. 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:26.800 And this can be in on in water or on land. 0:20:26.800 --> 0:20:31.040 If you've ever been in a lake and seen a snake, uh, 0:20:31.240 --> 0:20:34.760 swimming across the water, that'll get you going quick because 0:20:34.840 --> 0:20:37.960 those things move really quick in the water. Um. And 0:20:38.040 --> 0:20:41.600 a lot of water snakes are poisonous for sure. Yeah 0:20:41.800 --> 0:20:45.440 the water. Yeah, we have those here in Georgia. Of course. 0:20:45.520 --> 0:20:47.919 What's the other copper heads will get in the creeks 0:20:47.920 --> 0:20:52.040 and rivers. Um. So these are because they have no 0:20:52.119 --> 0:20:54.840 resistance points. Obviously in the water they can just slink 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:58.720 along quicker. But on the land they use these rocks 0:20:58.720 --> 0:21:02.159 and branches and little divots and dents in the landscape. 0:21:02.640 --> 0:21:05.480 To uh just you know, propel itself, Like I'm gonna 0:21:05.480 --> 0:21:07.760 put my belly on that rock and shoot myself forward 0:21:07.760 --> 0:21:10.639 a little bit. Yeah, and then whatever is below my belly, 0:21:10.760 --> 0:21:14.200 it's gonna be on the rock and just inches itself along. 0:21:14.400 --> 0:21:16.920 We'll not inches. These things can move in some cases 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:22.240 right by inches, well by feet, like the black Mamba thirteen. Wow, 0:21:23.040 --> 0:21:28.280 that is so scary because that's a pretty poisonous um snake. Yeah. 0:21:28.520 --> 0:21:30.200 I think it's number five on the list, which we'll 0:21:30.240 --> 0:21:33.800 get to. Um. There's side winding too, which is crazy. Yeah. 0:21:33.840 --> 0:21:36.800 Those are creepy looking. It'll get your dog disqualified in 0:21:36.880 --> 0:21:40.119 a UM in a dog show. Yeah, well yeah, is 0:21:40.119 --> 0:21:42.720 that one of the big strikes against side gating. Yeah, 0:21:42.800 --> 0:21:45.040 for sure. We did one on dog shows, right, yeah 0:21:45.040 --> 0:21:48.720 we did. Yeah. It's good for UM for snakes though, 0:21:48.800 --> 0:21:52.000 especially ones where there aren't those resistant points like rocks 0:21:52.000 --> 0:21:54.199 and branches and leaves that a snake can use to 0:21:54.240 --> 0:21:58.840 propel itself. Um, say, like along sand in a sandy desert. Yeah, 0:21:58.880 --> 0:22:00.920 that's where I've usually seen side winder. That's where the 0:22:00.920 --> 0:22:03.919 sidewinding goes on. Yeah, it's the same s shape, but 0:22:04.000 --> 0:22:06.359 it's um. The cool thing about sidewinding to me is 0:22:06.760 --> 0:22:10.119 if you slow it down and look closely, the major 0:22:10.160 --> 0:22:13.440 portions of the snake's body is off the sand when 0:22:13.480 --> 0:22:17.480 it's moving. It's like just sort of check it out. Yeah, 0:22:17.560 --> 0:22:19.719 like my fronts on and my backs down. Now my 0:22:19.720 --> 0:22:21.800 backs down on, my fronts on, and the whole time 0:22:21.840 --> 0:22:24.320 the middle is off the ground. Yeah, there's just basically 0:22:24.359 --> 0:22:27.479 like the parts that curved down. Everything else is held up. 0:22:28.080 --> 0:22:30.040 Those are the only points in contact with the ground 0:22:30.440 --> 0:22:33.239 and trying to hop I get the feeling. Yeah, like 0:22:33.280 --> 0:22:35.880 I wish I head legs doing my best here, I'm 0:22:35.880 --> 0:22:38.720 doing my best. Um. There's the caterpillar, which I haven't 0:22:38.760 --> 0:22:43.080 seen much. Um that is the same rectilinear locomotion, but 0:22:43.200 --> 0:22:46.639 it's up and down like creates that rippling effect like 0:22:46.680 --> 0:22:49.280 you would see a caterpillar. Um, I don't see that 0:22:49.280 --> 0:22:51.159 a whole lot. Well. Yeah, rather than side to side, 0:22:51.160 --> 0:22:54.400 the curves are up and down. It's like the breakdancing 0:22:54.440 --> 0:22:58.480 move the worm. Yeah, that's exactly what it's like. Uh, 0:22:58.520 --> 0:23:01.080 they should have called it the snake. Should And then 0:23:01.320 --> 0:23:07.399 my favorite the concertina, which is sort of like the 0:23:07.640 --> 0:23:10.440 s but I get the feeling. It's like, uh, when 0:23:10.440 --> 0:23:13.040 you see the old hand accordion in a cartoon, like 0:23:13.119 --> 0:23:15.280