What makes snakes look so different?
All snakes have long, flexible, scaly bodies. But underneath their scaly skin, they possess muscles, bones, lungs, intestines, a heart and a liver, just like other vertebrates. To accommodate the long slender body, most snakes have many more vertebrae and ribs than do other vertebrates of comparable size. Additionally, most or their paired internal organs have been reduced , removed, or drastically repositioned to get a better fit. A snake’s jaws are truly unique, allowing the animal to swallow prey much larger than the narrow mouth opening would deem possible. A snake can do this because the two halves of the lower jaw are joined by a stretchable ligament. The expandable gape enables the snake to engulf a large prey item rather like a stretchable stocking. Other structural features facilitate the process including the loose articulation and reduced number of the bones supporting the jaws, a protrusible glottis that permits breathing while the mouth is blocked by prey; and sharp, back-
