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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 3/7/2009 Posts: 33,212 Neurons: 98,814 Location: Inside Farlex computers
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SnakesSnakes are scaly, cold-blooded, carnivorous reptiles related to lizards. They tend to be limbless and move by muscular contraction. Though they have razor-sharp teeth, they do not chew their prey but instead swallow it whole with the help of a loosely attached jaw. Because their bodies are tubular, some paired organs must be staggered within the body, and one of the two lungs is generally non-functional and sometimes even absent. Why are snakes associated with healing and medicine? More...
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 Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 3/26/2014 Posts: 167 Neurons: 2,954,244 Location: Vilnius, Vilniaus Apskritis, Lithuania
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Authors are technically right: the intoduction states that there are "about" 3,400 species of snakes, and in "distribution" section they assert that there are "over" 2,900 species. Where does such significant margin comes from? Sincerely - worried Madas.
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 Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 6/23/2011 Posts: 567 Neurons: 170,308 Location: Orillia, Ontario, Canada
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An older snake may shed its skin only once or twice a year. But a younger snake, still growing, may shed up to four times a year.[33] The discarded skin gives a perfect imprint of the scale pattern, and it is usually possible to identify the snake if the discarded skin is reasonably intact.[31] This periodic renewal has led to the snake being a symbol of healing and medicine, as pictured in the Rod of Asclepius.
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 Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 2/4/2014 Posts: 8,578 Neurons: 7,191,559 Location: Bogotá, Bogota D.C., Colombia
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Did You Know? A recently discovered fossil snake was 49 feet long, longer than a school bus! http://www.defenders.org/snakes/basic-facts
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 Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 3/27/2014 Posts: 2,500 Neurons: 2,138,500 Location: Tbilisi, T'bilisi, Georgia
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Some fossil snakes had hind legs, as I have read in some sources. Evolution!
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 Rank: Member
Joined: 1/26/2014 Posts: 309 Neurons: 11,475 Location: Steubenville, Ohio, United States
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Interesting.
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 Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 6/30/2010 Posts: 10,965 Neurons: 32,652 Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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I don't care how interesting they are as long as they keep a respectful distance from this author.
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