The Encyclopedia of Snakes

by Mattison, Chris

• ISBN13: 9780816039319
• ISBN10: 0816039313
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-06-01
• Publisher: Checkmark Books

Summary

This beautifully illustrated, comprehensive volume covers the most popular aspects of snake biology. Chris Mattison, an international authority on snakes, has compiled a tremendous amount of information on these low profile, highly captivating creatures. Coverage includes snake classification; size, shape, and coloration; ecology; eating habits; defensive behavior; and mythology and superstition. Fact boxes within each chapter focus attention on items of special interest, such as scale type, snake populations in the wild, and egg incubation.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	6	(7)
Introduction	7	(2)
The Origin and Evolution of Snakes	9	(8)
Defining snakes	10	(1)
Is it a snake?	10	(1)
The origins and evolution of snakes	11	(3)
Modern snake classification	14	(3)
Morphology and Function	17	(36)
Size and shape	18	(8)
An easy way of measuring snakes	19	(7)
Colour	26	(4)
Producing normal offspring from albino parents	29	(1)
The skin and scales	30	(7)
Scale polishing	31	(6)
Locomotion	37	(2)
The senses	39	(7)
Facial pits in boas and pythons	42	(2)
Facial pits in vipers	44	(2)
Internal anatomy	46	(7)
How Snakes Live	53	(16)
The physical environment	54	(9)
Life in the cold	59	(4)
The biological environment	63	(6)
The ideal sex ratio	65	(2)
Rare snakes	67	(2)
Where Snakes Live	69	(26)
Habitats	70	(10)
The effects of changing habitats	74	(6)
Adaptations to habitats	80	(4)
Convergent evolution and parallel evolution	81	(3)
World patterns of distribution	84	(11)
A very successful snake	87	(1)
Animals on islands	88	(3)
Ecology of an interloper: the brown tree snake on Guam	91	(4)
Feeding	95	(24)
Types of food	96	(12)
Dietary preferences in western garter snakes	96	(12)
Methods of hunting	108	(5)
Optimal foraging	109	(1)
Foraging in bushmasters: an object lesson in patience	110	(3)
Overpowering prey	113	(3)
Swallowing and digestion	116	(3)
Defence	119	(18)
Predators of snakes	120	(1)
Defence strategies	121	(16)
Caterpillars that imitate snakes	126	(2)
The snake that lost its rattle	128	(1)
Warning behaviour in desert vipers	129	(8)
Reproduction	137	(28)
The reproductive cycle	138	(2)
The snake egg	139	(1)
Breeding seasons	140	(4)
Sperm storage in a small rattlesnake	142	(2)
Mating systems	144	(4)
Enforced chastity in garter snakes	144	(2)
Three breeding systems: male-male competition, scramble competition and extended mate searching	146	(1)
Snakes without fathers	147	(1)
Gestation	148	(1)
Egg laying and birth	148	(5)
Incubation	153	(1)
Hatching	154	(1)
Growth and development	155	(1)
Reproductive strategies	156	(9)
Snakes and Humans	165	(23)
Snake myths and snake worship	166	(2)
The snake festival of Cocullo	167	(1)
Current attitudes	168	(3)
Snake bite	169	(1)
Treating snake bite	170	(1)
Exploitation of snakes	171	(2)
Rattlesnake round-ups	171	(1)
Where do all the snakes go?	172	(1)
Conservation	173	(3)
Death on the roads	174	(2)
Studying snakes	176	(4)
Radio-tracking snakes	178	(1)
Brusher Mills	179	(1)
Snakes in captivity	180	(8)
Taxonomy	188	(5)
Classification	190	(1)
Nomenclature: how snakes are named	190	(3)
The Classification of Snakes	193	(55)
Anomalepididae	194	(1)
Typhlopidae: Blind snakes	194	(1)
How big and how small?	195	(1)
Leptotyphlopidae: Thread snakes	195	(1)
Tropidopheidae: Wood snakes or West Indian boas	196	(1)
Bolyeriidae: Round Island boas	197	(1)
The boas of Round Island	197	(1)
Boidae: Boas and pythons	198	(7)
Acrochordidae: Wart or file snakes	205	(1)
Loxocemidae: Mexican burrowing snake	206	(1)
Xenopeltidae: Sunbeam snake	207	(1)
Aniliidae: South American pipe snake	207	(1)
Uropeltidae: Shield-tails and pipe snakes	208	(1)
Colubridae: Typical harmless and back-fanged snakes	209	(22)
Atractaspididae: Burrowing asps	231	(1)
Elapidae: Coral snakes, cobras, kraits, mambas and sea snakes	232	(9)
Viperidae: Vipers	241	(7)
Bibliography	248	(1)
Photograph Acknowledgements	249	(1)
Index	250