Why don't snakes have legs? Detailed answer

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Why don't snakes have legs? Detailed answer

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Why don't snakes have legs?

The absence of legs in modern snakes does not mean that they never had limbs. But how and when the snakes "lost" their legs is not known to science. Some scientists believe that some species of shrew lizards, which have survived to this day, were the ancestors of the snake. All these lizards have very short legs or none at all.

But, despite the fact that once all the legs of the snake disappeared at once, they by no means lost the ability to move and do without them very well. Convex plates located on the belly help the snake to move.

There are four different ways for snakes to move.

1. Lateral wave-like movement. The snake sequentially describes wavy curves with its body, similar in shape to the letter S, and, pushing off the body from the unevenness of the soil, glides forward.

2. Rectilinear motion. Small groups of plates on the belly push forward part of the body of the snake, while the rest of the plates are thrown back, creating a support for the body. After that, the plates that have moved forward hold the body while the plates of the back of the body are pulled up to them.

3. Spiral motion is used for tree climbing. The snake wraps its tail around a tree trunk and, throwing up the front part of the body, catches on the tree at a certain height, after which it pulls up the lower part of the body.

4. Side travel. Moving in this way, the snake throws the front part of the body sideways, after which it pulls up the back part and repeats the same operation.

Author: Likum A.

Random interesting fact from the Great Encyclopedia:

Which Russian emperor believed that Americans eat human meat?

In the 19th century, the inhabitants of Russia knew little about the United States, and they had distorted ideas about the mores of Americans. When in 1853 the Ministry of Public Education sent Joseph Hamel to America to get acquainted with the state of science, Nicholas I approved this trip with the instruction: "To oblige him with a secret order not to dare to eat human meat in America."

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