What’s worse than having one gigantic-but-relatively-docile python species invading Florida? Finding out that an extremely aggressive python species is moving in as well, and learning that the two species could theoretically interbreed to create a hybrid monster.
Florida wildlife officials have been concerned for some time about the 20-foot-long Burmese pythons that are thought to have been released by irresponsible pet owners and have established a thriving colony in Everglades National Park. But over the past year, four African rock pythons have also been sighted or captured in Miami-Dade county, giving biologists new cause for concern. Says herpetologist Kenneth Krysko: “They are just mean, vicious snakes…. You couldn’t get a worse python to become established. A Burmese python is just a docile snake. These things will lunge at you” [Miami Herald].
Scientists have discovered a clever way the yellow-lipped sea krait snakes deter predators: By making it look as though the venomous snake has two heads, according to a study published in the journal Marine Ecology.
A biologist first noticed the snakes’ tricky method while diving in Indonesia. Researcher Arne Rasmussen observed the animals foraging for food while simultaneously moving what appeared to be a bobbing head around–but that bobbing body part was really its tail. “[T]he tail was slowly writhing back and forth, much in the same way as the head moves on a vigilant and actively searching snake” [National Geographic News], said co-author Johan Elmberg, who did not see the snake, but teamed up for the study with Rasmussen.
The burgeoning 150,000-snake python population in Florida’s Everglades National Park threatens crops, livestock, and native animals. And, as the July 1 story of the toddler killed by a pet python demonstrates, the snakes can also threaten human lives. The snake overpopulation began when python owners discarded their unwanted pets in the wild; now, lawmakers are pushing for legislation to combat this invasive species. Not surprisingly, there is disagreement over the best way to do it.
Florida Senator Bill Nelson, who filed a bill in February to ban the importation of Burmese pythons, told a Senate panel on Wednesday that the snakes are slithering their way into a wider geographical area. Then he explained in graphic detail how a pet python… strangled a toddler in her crib last week in a town northwest of Orlando. ”It’s just a matter of time before one of these snakes gets to a visitor in the Florida Everglades,” Nelson said [Miami Herald]. Nelson said he’s been pestering the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for three years to halt the growth of the snake population, but the agency has not yet taken action. In addition, an environmental scientist at the panel emphasized the need to majorly restructure the policies that regulate and control import of exotic species like the python.
Many animals depend on stealth to catch prey, but a small tentacled water snake resorts to downright trickery. That’s what a Vanderbilt University scientist found when he analyzed the way the snake captures fish, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The snake, which is native to Southeast Asia, takes advantage of a well-known reflex that fish possess. The mechanism occurs when a fish’s ear senses changes in water pressure due to movement nearby, which is all it takes to initiate the fish’s escape response, called the C-start — one of the most well studied neural circuits in vertebrates. Two large nerve cells, known as Mauthner cells, run along either side of the fish’s body and detect water disturbances. The cell closest to the signal will fire action potentials that stimulate trunk muscles on the opposite side of the body while simultaneously inhibiting the muscles on the near side. As a result, the fish turns away from the disturbance and flees. This whole process takes less than a tenth of a second [The Scientist]. The reflex causes the fish’s body to form a “C” as it turns away from the source of the underwater vibration—but in this case, that leads the fish right into the snake’s jaws.
Snakes certainly make it look easy when they slither forward, leaving perfect S-curve tracks behind them, but scientists have long been puzzled by the mechanics of their locomotion. One theory proposed that they propelled themselves by pushing off small twigs and rocks in their paths, but researchers noted that they move equally well across smooth surfaces, like flat rock or desert sand. One researcher who is studying snakes’ motions, David Hu, notes that snakes are champs at escaping across office carpet…. “One snake escaped, and we didn’t know where it was until we got a printer jam,” he says. (The snake was fine.) [ScienceNOW Daily News].
Now, after a series of experiments and some computer modeling, Hu says his team has cracked the case. A snake’s scales, Dr. Hu said, resemble overlapping Venetian blinds, and tend to catch on tiny variations in the surface they lie on. This friction is greater in the forward direction than in sideways directions, as it is with wheels and ice skates. This frictional difference results in the snake’s moving forward as it undulates [The New York Times].
In a coal mine in Colombia, researchers have unearthed the fossilized remains of the mother of all snakes, a nightmarish tropical behemoth as long as a school bus and as heavy as a Volkswagen Beetle [Los Angeles Times]. The new species, named Titanoboa cerrejonensis, is related to modern boa constrictors, but those descendants are puny in comparison to their primordial ancestor. Titanoboa grew up to 43 feet long and weighed about 2,500 pounds, researchers say, making it the largest snake on record.
The researchers used a known mathematical relationship between the size of vertebrae and the length of the body in living snakes to estimate the size of the ancient animal [BBC News]. Researchers say the ancient boa lived in the wet, tropical rainforest about 60 million years ago, and may have dined on giant turtles and primitive crocodiles–the fossilized remains of those animals were found near the snake fossils. But the extinct snake isn’t just interesting because of its superlative size; researchers also used it to investigate the Earth’s climate in the snake’s day.
Researchers say they have found the world’s smallest snake on the Caribbean island of Barbados. Evolutionary biologist Blair Hedges says that the tiny reptile, which can comfortably curl up on a quarter and which is barely as wide as a spaghetti noodle, may also be at the evolutionary limit for the smallest size possible for snakes.
Most snakes produce clusters of eggs, but the newly discovered species lays only one egg, which hatches a youngster who is one-half the length of the adult. That would be like humans giving birth to a 60-pound (27kg) baby. Dr Hedges added that the snake’s size might limit the size of its clutch. “If a tiny snake were to have more than one offspring, each egg would have to share the same space occupied by the one egg and so the two hatchlings would be half the normal size.” The hatchlings might then be too small to find anything small enough to eat [BBC News].
By examining the genetics of snake embryos, researchers have solved a long-standing evolutionary mystery regarding the evolution of fangs on venomous snakes. Researchers have been puzzled because the fangs, which are syringe-like teeth that draw poison from venom glands, have very different placement in different species. Most venomous snakes, including grass snakes, have fangs positioned in the rear of the mouth, while a few groups, including rattlesnakes, cobras and vipers, have fangs jutting down from their upper jaws in the front of the mouth [LiveScience].
Adding to the confusion, researchers had found that the front-fanged snakes aren’t closely related to each other, suggesting that the front-fang trait evolved at least two separate times. The assumption of multiple origins is problematic for evolutionary biologists who prefer to find that complex structures like fangs … don’t just come and go. If they did, fangs presumably would have popped up in other vertebrates [Science News].
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What’s worse than having one gigantic-but-relatively-docile python species invading Florida? Finding out that an extremely aggressive python species is moving in as well, and learning that the two species could theoretically interbreed to create a hybrid monster.
Scientists have discovered a clever way the yellow-lipped sea krait snakes deter predators: By making it look as though the venomous 
The burgeoning 150,000-snake python population in Florida’s 
Snakes certainly make it look easy when they slither forward, leaving perfect S-curve tracks behind them, but scientists have long been puzzled by the mechanics of their locomotion. One theory proposed that they propelled themselves by pushing off small twigs and rocks in their paths, but researchers noted that they move equally well across smooth surfaces, like flat rock or desert sand. One researcher who is studying snakes’ motions, David Hu, notes that snakes are champs at escaping across office carpet…. “One snake escaped, and we didn’t know where it was until we got a printer jam,” he says. (The snake was fine.) [
In a coal mine in Colombia, researchers have unearthed the fossilized remains of the mother of all snakes, a nightmarish tropical behemoth as long as a school bus and as heavy as a Volkswagen Beetle [
Researchers say they have found the world’s smallest 
By examining the 
