What do snakes look like

Help us make PetMD better Was this article helpful? Yes No. Share this article. What did you find helpful? What was not helpful? Say more Sign me up for the PetMD Newsletter. Submit Feedback. Still have questions? Some aquatic snakes have a side-flattened, finlike tail that is used in swimming. Cobras kill their prey by injecting it with venom using two short, fixed fangs at the front of the mouth.

Colubrids are the largest group of snakes. They are mostly smaller than pythons and boas, and only a few of them are venomous. Snakes do not have taste buds on their tongue like we do. Instead, they have a taste sensor in the roof of their mouth. They have to flick out their tongue to pick up scents in the air, which are delivered to the sensor when the tongue goes back in the mouth.

Snakes don't smell with their noses like humans. They have a forked or split tongue that they use to smell and taste chemical compositions in the air.

Snakes don't have eyelids or ears, either, and their eyes don't move. To hear they feel vibrations through the ground. Humans' skin flakes off a little at a time, but snakes shed their entire skin nearly three times a year. This is called molting.

Snakes aren't slimy. Their scales are smooth and dry. Corn snakes use their scales as climbing equipment. They can angle the scales so that it digs into bark, allowing them to climb trees. The paradise tree-snake of Southeast Asia can fly.

It swings its body through the air and then flattens into a C-shape to catch the airflow. If it flips its body back and forth it can change directions as it falls. There are several ways to tell if a snake is poisonous. For example, if its pupil is shaped like a diamond, then the snake is poisonous.

Snakes that are non-poisonous will have round pupils. How snakes hunt Snakes also have forked tongues, which they flick in different directions to smell their surroundings.

Habits About once a month snakes shed their skin, a process called ecdysis that makes room for growth and gets rid of parasites. Sea snakes Most snakes live on land, but there are about 70 species of snakes that live in the Indian and Pacific oceans. For a full menu of dozens of National Geographic snake videos, click here.

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