Folding and Stretching Many snakes, like the milk snake, slither along in an S-shaped path. Each point along its body follows the path of its head and neck. It’s like the cars of a train following the engine as it moves along a track. When snakes are in narrow spaces, like


tunnels, they can move by folding and then stretching their bodies. A snake bunches up half of its body until it’s squeezed between the sides of a tunnel. T en it pushes against the walls to move forward. For some snakes, slithering is not a good


option. If a horned viper in the Sahara tries to slither, the desert sand will slip away under it. So, this snake moves by sidewinding. T e horned viper liſt s up part of its body. It pushes into the sand with the rest of its body. T is causes the viper to move sideways across the desert. It leaves a row of parallel tracks in the sand. Some of the larger, bulkier snakes use


a slow, creeping movement to get around. To move ahead, the rainbow boa in Brazil stretches its body out to its full length. T en it uses special scales on its belly to push itself along the ground. T ese scales fan out from the body, grab the earth, and push forward.


This young green tree python is yellow. It will turn emerald green when it gets older.


Special scales on its belly help the bulky rainbow boa creep forward.


SEPTEMBER 2015 5


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24