All About Snakes for Kids: Learn about Snakes for Children - FreeSchool

Let's learn about snakes. Scaly and slithery, long and legless, snakes are easy to recognize. Their fierce stare may seem threatening, but don't take it personally. Snakes can't blink, because they don't have eyelids. Snakes are reptiles, which means that they breathe air, have scaly skin, and are cold-blooded. Cold-blooded animals cannot maintain their own body temperature. When it gets colder outside, they get colder. When it gets warmer outside, they get warmer. That's why reptiles cannot live in extremely cold climates. Snakes can be found on every continent except for Antarctica, which is too cold for them to survive. Snakes can be very large, or very small. Many snakes live on land, but some live in the water. No matter what their size or coloring, all snakes are carnivores, eating anything from insects to birds, fish, rodents, wild pigs, or even jaguars. Snakes are also vertebrates, which means that they have a backbone. Actually, snakes are almost all backbone. A snake's skeleton is mostly made up of its skull, the vertebrae, or bones of the spine, and ribs. Many snakes have special skulls. The bones of their skulls can move apart so that snakes can swallow food bigger than their head. Snakes cannot chew or tear their food, which is why they must swallow it whole. Snakes have special senses that help them find their prey. Some snakes have poor eyesight. Others have sharp vision. Some types of snakes have infrared receptors that allow them to sense the body heat of animals. Many snakes can feel vibrations in the ground through their scales, which help them follow animals by their movement. One of a snake's most valuable senses, however, is their sense of smell, and for that, they do not rely on their nose. Although snakes do have ordinary nostrils with which to smell, more sensitive investigations require their tongue. The tongue of a snake is forked, or split at the tips, and you will often see snakes flicking their tongue in and out. Again, this snake is not being rude. It is actually tasting the air, collecting microscopic particles which it can analyze using a special organ in the roof of its mouth. These particles will tell the snake what kind of plants and animals are around them, and even what direction they are in. Once they find an animal to eat, some snakes will just swallow it alive. Most snakes, however, will use one of two strategies to kill their prey beforehand. First, some snakes will use venom, which they deliver with a bite from their fangs. Not all snakes have venom. Those that do not will often wrap their body tightly around their prey and squeeze it to death. Some people are frightened of snakes, particularly of venomous ones, but out of more than 3,000 snake species in the world, fewer than 10% are venomous, and only about half of those are even capable of a bite that could kill a human. Most snakes just want to be left alone, and will try to escape instead of attacking if you give them the chance. I hope you enjoyed learning about snakes today. Goodbye till next time!