Scripps Research scientists have developed an antibody that can block the effects of lethal toxins in the venoms of a wide variety of snakes found throughout Africa, Asia and Australia.
Plants & Animals
Feb 21, 2024
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1658
Chromosome-level assembly of 14 snakes in a study led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, has created a high-resolution genomic reference for the study of snake evolution. In a paper, "Large-scale snake genome analyses ...
Venomous snakes cause an estimated 120,000 deaths and 400,000 disabling injuries worldwide each year, with approximately 8,000 snake bite cases in the United States alone.
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 13, 2023
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157
In the evolutionary arms race between rattlesnakes and their prey, rodents, birds and other reptiles develop resistance to the snakes' deadly venom to survive. But new research led by the University of Colorado Boulder and ...
Evolution
Jul 18, 2022
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81
Modern snakes evolved from ancestors that lived side by side with the dinosaurs and that likely fed mainly on insects and lizards.
Evolution
Oct 14, 2021
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456
A new study suggests that all living snakes evolved from a handful of species that survived the giant asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs and most other living things at the end of the Cretaceous. The authors say ...
Evolution
Sep 14, 2021
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1964
Diversity in diet plays a role in the complexity of venom in pit vipers such as rattlesnakes, copperheads and cottonmouths.
Plants & Animals
Apr 19, 2021
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537
Most snakes get from A to B by bending their bodies into S-shapes and slithering forward headfirst. A few species, however—found in the deserts of North America, Africa and the Middle East—have an odder way of getting ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 1, 2021
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179
A team of researchers from Colorado State University and the University of Cincinnati have discovered a new mode of snake locomotion that allows the brown tree snake to ascend much larger smooth cylinders than any previously ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 11, 2021
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396
To be fair, the newly described Waray Dwarf Burrowing Snake (Levitonius mirus) is pretty great at hiding.
Plants & Animals
Dec 23, 2020
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2979
Snakes are elongate legless carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Like lizards, from which they evolved, they have loosely articulated skulls and most can swallow prey much larger than their own head. In order to accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most have only one functional lung. Some species retain a pelvic girdle with a pair of vestigial claws on either side of the cloaca.
Living snakes are found on every continent except Antarctica. Fifteen families are currently recognized comprising 456 genera and over 2,900 species. They range in size from the tiny, 10 cm long thread snake to pythons and anacondas of up to 7.6 m (25 ft) in length. The recently discovered fossil Titanoboa was 13 m or 43 ft long. Snakes are thought to have evolved from either burrowing or aquatic lizards during the Cretaceous period (c 150 Ma). The diversity of modern snakes appeared during the Paleocene period (c 66 to 56 Ma).
Most species are non-venomous and those that have venom use it primarily to kill and subdue prey rather than for self-defense. Some possess venom potent enough to cause painful injury or death to humans.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
