The Anatomy and Physiology of Snakes

1
The Anatomy and Physiology of Snakes

• By Jason Hatfield

2
Opening

• This presentation will be a quick overview of
  snake physiology and anatomy.
• The order of the slides are as following.
• Head Anatomy, Body Anatomy, Tail Anatomy, Snake
  locomotion, snake pictures, Resources

3
Anatomy of the snakes head

• The head holds the brain, the tongue and smelling
  organ(called Jacobson's organ), the eyes, and
  maybe a pit gland for seeing heat.

4
Anatomy of the snakes body

• The internal organs of most vertebrate animals
  are packed together in a relatively restricted
  abdominal cavity. In snakes, however, the
  internal organs are aligned in an extended linear
  body cavity that is modified in response to the
  elongated vertebral column.

5
Anatomy of the snakes tail

• The tail is very simple consisting of the
  reproductive organs and maybe a rattle.

6
Snake Locomotion

• serpentine locomotion, the snake contracts its
  muscles to produce a series of waves in its body,
  pushing from the back of each wave to move
  forward. In rectilinear, or caterpillar,
  movement, a heavy snake uses enlarged belly
  scales to grip the ground. Sidewinding, this
  motion involves lifting a loop of the body clear
  of the ground as the snake moves sideways.

7
Images
8
References

• Snake Anatomy - www.kwic.com/pagodavista/snkanat.
  htm
• Snake Anatomy - www.supernet.net/gene/aprob13.htm
  
• Anatomy of a Snake - http//herpetology.com/anatom
  y.html
• The Ophidia Files - http//come.to/ophidia