1 00:00:01,800 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:06,720 --> 00:00:10,640 Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren bog Obam here. You may have 3 00:00:10,720 --> 00:00:13,240 Speaker 1: heard about the birds and the bees, and the flowers 4 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:16,720 Speaker 1: and the trees, But what about the snakes. How do 5 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:22,040 Speaker 1: snakes mate? Some species, including a few very big ones, 6 00:00:22,239 --> 00:00:27,320 Speaker 1: can actually procreate without having sex. That's called parthenogenesis, and 7 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:30,840 Speaker 1: it's one of the many reproductive oddities will be exploring today. 8 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:35,080 Speaker 1: To answer this question, we've got to make like a 9 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:37,960 Speaker 1: black mamba, one of the fastest living snakes, by the way, 10 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:41,760 Speaker 1: and cover a lot of ground. Welcome to the wild, 11 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:46,839 Speaker 1: weird world of dual penises, delayed fertilization, mama python incubators, 12 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:53,360 Speaker 1: and springtime mating balls. Okay, let's start with getting together. 13 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:58,280 Speaker 1: When snakes flick their tongues, they're picking up airborne chemical 14 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:02,360 Speaker 1: signatures like the pheromone trails made by singles in their area. 15 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:06,640 Speaker 1: Male garter snakes, how snakes, and racers have all been 16 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:11,920 Speaker 1: observed trailing mature female snakes with this technique. The strategy 17 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:15,360 Speaker 1: doesn't always work. Sea snakes, for example, can easily lose 18 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:18,840 Speaker 1: track of a would be partner under water. Besides, pheromone 19 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:22,759 Speaker 1: trails naturally degrade with the passage of time, but when 20 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:26,120 Speaker 1: partners do meet, the courtship rituals can take on many forms. 21 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:31,320 Speaker 1: Paper about this subject describes chin rubbing, tail quivering, and 22 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:36,800 Speaker 1: coital neck biting. In numerous species, male snakes compete and 23 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:40,000 Speaker 1: wrestle with each other for access to female snakes. For 24 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:42,559 Speaker 1: North American rat snakes, this can take on the form 25 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:45,200 Speaker 1: of each combatant rearing up and then trying to pin 26 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:50,160 Speaker 1: his rival's head to the ground. No snake has longer fangs, 27 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:53,680 Speaker 1: and the gaboon viper, whose venom dispensing teeth can grow 28 00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:57,840 Speaker 1: over two inches or five centimeters in length. Come breeding season, 29 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:03,040 Speaker 1: the male snakes not only wrestle aggressively strike at one another. However, 30 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:06,920 Speaker 1: the snakes do this with closed mouths, keeping those infamous 31 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:11,920 Speaker 1: fangs at bay. When it comes to actual intercourse. Two 32 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:15,520 Speaker 1: as a couple, but three or more isn't an unexpected crowd. 33 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:19,840 Speaker 1: A species like garter snakes, copper heads, and anacondas all 34 00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:24,160 Speaker 1: form the occasional mating ball or breeding ball. These are 35 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:27,840 Speaker 1: writhing heaps created when several males all swarm over a 36 00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:30,800 Speaker 1: single female in an attempt to mate. More than a 37 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:35,200 Speaker 1: dozen participants may be involved. The reproductive organs of both 38 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:38,440 Speaker 1: sexes are housed in the cloaca, which is a multi 39 00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:41,720 Speaker 1: purpose orifice located on the underside of a snake's tail. 40 00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:46,160 Speaker 1: List serves as the excretory opening for the digestive system 41 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:48,880 Speaker 1: and for urine as well as the opening to the 42 00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:54,680 Speaker 1: reproductive organs instant. Only male snakes and lizards have two 43 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:59,360 Speaker 1: penises apiece. These reptiles are endowed with a paired sex 44 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:02,840 Speaker 1: organ called the hemy penis. There's a right hemmy penis 45 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:05,640 Speaker 1: and a left hemmy penis, each connected to one of 46 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:09,520 Speaker 1: the testicles. Only one penis is used during any given 47 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:12,880 Speaker 1: instance of intercourse, but that doesn't mean it's counterpart, never 48 00:03:12,919 --> 00:03:16,160 Speaker 1: seasoning action. The second could very well come into play 49 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:19,120 Speaker 1: if the male finds himself a second mate shortly afterward. 50 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:24,480 Speaker 1: The hemy penis are often covered in little spikes or hooks. 51 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:27,440 Speaker 1: These may enable the males to prolong sexual intercourse or 52 00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:29,720 Speaker 1: to do a better job of hanging on to their partners, 53 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:32,639 Speaker 1: doing it not always an easy feat for lugless animals. 54 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:37,720 Speaker 1: Also to improve his chances of siring offspring, a male 55 00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:41,280 Speaker 1: red sided garter snake, for example, will clog his partner's 56 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:46,400 Speaker 1: cloaca by secreting a thick gelatinous plug temporary barrier. The 57 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:49,280 Speaker 1: plug keeps his sperm from spilling out, and it blocks 58 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:54,600 Speaker 1: rival males from leaving their sperm behind. A Meanwhile, female 59 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:59,279 Speaker 1: snakes can using pockets of folded tissue, keep sperm isolated 60 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:02,880 Speaker 1: but still liable inside their bodies for very long periods 61 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:07,280 Speaker 1: of time, proactively choosing when to let them fertilize her eggs. 62 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:12,080 Speaker 1: In two thousand five, a western diamond back rattlesnake who 63 00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:15,520 Speaker 1: had been living alone in captivity, rendered herself pregnant and 64 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:18,880 Speaker 1: gave birth to a litter of offspring. To accomplish this, 65 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:22,240 Speaker 1: the mother reptile used sperm should held onto for about 66 00:04:22,279 --> 00:04:27,760 Speaker 1: six years. Sometimes male snakes aren't needed for reproduction at all. 67 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:31,279 Speaker 1: This has been observed in the green anaconda, which is 68 00:04:31,320 --> 00:04:34,400 Speaker 1: the world's heaviest snake, weighing upward of four hundred and 69 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:39,760 Speaker 1: forty pounds that's two hundred kilos. Genetic testing reveals the 70 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:44,720 Speaker 1: female green anaconda can practice parthena genesis, impregnating themselves with 71 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:49,960 Speaker 1: no male contact whatsoever. And Burmese pythons, those extra large 72 00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:53,160 Speaker 1: snakes that have become notorious in recent years for successfully 73 00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:56,239 Speaker 1: invading the Florida Everglades might be able to pull off 74 00:04:56,279 --> 00:05:02,320 Speaker 1: the same feat. Here's a difference between pythons and anacondas 75 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:05,919 Speaker 1: though the former lay eggs while the ladder give birth 76 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:10,359 Speaker 1: to live young. Other live bearing serpents include rattlesnakes and 77 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:14,440 Speaker 1: garter snakes. Upon laying a fresh batch of eggs, a 78 00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:18,000 Speaker 1: mother python will wrap her body around it. That loving 79 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:20,960 Speaker 1: squeeze keeps the clutch from losing too much water and 80 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:25,520 Speaker 1: promotes healthy yolk development. Very frequently, the devoted parent remains 81 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:30,839 Speaker 1: coiled until the eggs hatch, and king cobra mothers painstakingly 82 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:33,920 Speaker 1: build nests for their eggs out of sticks and bamboo leaves, 83 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:37,400 Speaker 1: a unique behavior among snakes. The finished nests can be 84 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:40,080 Speaker 1: as big as four feet over one meter in diameter. 85 00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:44,800 Speaker 1: Egg Sitting is one thing, but it's pretty rare for 86 00:05:44,839 --> 00:05:48,440 Speaker 1: snakes to take care of their actual babies. Female pit 87 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:53,360 Speaker 1: vipers thus deserve special recognition. Multiple species of these venomous 88 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:56,680 Speaker 1: reptiles are now known to watch over their newborn progeny 89 00:05:56,760 --> 00:05:59,600 Speaker 1: for several days after the little snakes first come into 90 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:07,160 Speaker 1: the world. Today's episode is based on the article ever 91 00:06:07,279 --> 00:06:09,599 Speaker 1: wondered how Snake's mate on how stuff Works dot Com, 92 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:12,480 Speaker 1: written by Mark Mancini. Brain Stuff is production of by 93 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:14,760 Speaker 1: Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff Works dot Com, 94 00:06:14,839 --> 00:06:17,760 Speaker 1: and it's produced by Tyler Klang. Before more podcasts in 95 00:06:17,839 --> 00:06:20,920 Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 96 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:22,840 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.