Printable snake fact sheet

Snakes at a glance

• There are around 4,000 kinds (species) of snakes.
• Snakes live on every continent except Antarctica: in rainforests, deserts, grasslands, wetlands, mountains and warm oceans.
• Snakes are ectotherms: they rely on outside heat to control their body temperature.

Body

• A snake's skeleton is mostly a skull, a long spine of about 100 to over 400 vertebrae, and ribs.
• Overlapping scales made of keratin cover the skin. Wide belly scales (scutes) grip the ground.
• Snakes have no eyelids. A clear scale called the spectacle (brille) protects each eye.
• The two halves of the lower jaw are joined by a stretchy ligament, so snakes can swallow prey wider than their heads. The jaw does not really "unhinge".
• Most snakes have only one working lung.

Senses

• Snakes smell with their forked tongue and the Jacobson's (vomeronasal) organ in the roof of the mouth.
• Pit vipers, pythons and boas have heat-sensing pits that detect warm-blooded prey.
• Snakes have no outside ears, but they sense vibrations through the jaw and body.

Moving and growing

• Snakes move without legs: S-shaped waves (lateral undulation), concertina, a straight crawl (rectilinear) and sidewinding on loose sand.
• Some tree snakes, such as the paradise flying snake, flatten their bodies and glide between trees.
• As they grow, snakes shed the outer layer of their skin (ecdysis), often in one piece. Before a shed, their eyes can look cloudy blue.

Staying safe

Most snakes are harmless to people, but some are dangerous and many harmless snakes look like dangerous ones. Never touch or pick up a wild snake. Stay back, tell an adult, and leave it alone.