how come snakes are meat eaters?

Questions, when asked by wondering minds do not necessarily need a context. Perhaps context, like a place, may give a sense of reality. That context started on a late evening when the lingering reluctant light gave way to darkness. Narayan wanted to go along for the walk. As we went past these woods to our left on the sidewalk, he asked

"Are snakes meat eaters?"

"Yes. I think they are"

"How come?"

"What else should they eat?"

"Well they could eat grass...."

"Ummmm..." was all I could say at the moment.

Search for: where do snakes fall on the evolutionary time line?

kingdom: animals
phylum: chordata
class: reptila
order: squmata

chordata is vertebrates

reptiles are a class of vertabrates

they are generally cold blodded, scaly skins, and lays eggs

in that sense crocodoiles and snakes are cousins

Search for: how old are snakes in the evolutionary line?

evolution of snakes: around the time of dinosaurs

Search for: cotylosaur, anapsid, synapsid, diapsid

dinosaurs, if they were to be lizards, were they cold bloded?

Based on these fossil finds, as well as on anatomical study of modern reptiles, scientists have concluded that the snakes probably evolved from a family of lizards during the time of the dinosaurs. Snakes and lizards share a number of distinct features in the structure of their skull; both, for instance, possess a moveable quadrate bone at the back of the jaw, and both are missing the quadratojugal bone at the rear of the skull.

herpetology is the study of snakes

Search for: define:brille

Based on these similarities, some herpetologists have theorized that an ancient group of monitor-like lizards began to follow a burrowing way of life, tunneling through loose dirt and sand in search of earthworms and other prey, just as some lizards do today. Over a period of millions of years, these burrowing lizards lost their limbs and their external ears--to help them burrow more easily--and also replaced their eyelids with a clear brille or spectacle to protect their eyes while digging. At about the time that the dinosaurs reached their apex, one group of these burrowing lizards then gave up its subterranean lifestyle and emerged to the surface, where they developed a new legless mode of locomotion and rapidly diversified to invade a large number of ecological niches. Today we classify the various descendants of these legless lizards as snakes.

The "burrowing ancestors" theory has, however, come under some attack recently. Several herpetologists have pointed out that the Dinilysia skull does not show many features adapted to a burrowing existence. Some biologists have theorized that the snake's unique features are the result of a largely aquatic or semi-aquatic lifestyle, as illustrated by the Earless Monitor. In this interpretation, the lack of ears, the covered eyes and the long limbless bodies allowed the first snakes to move efficiently through water or wet marshy areas in search of prey. It was only later that snakes moved from an aquatic environment to invade the dry land. During the time that snakes developed, the Varanid family did contain a number of semi-aquatic and marine species, including the giant Mososaurs.

Search for: are dinosaurs warmbloded?

well lizards are and crocs are but not turtles. turtles seem to eat vegitation.

Looks like they are warmbloded according to isotope study

Search for: origin of predators

interesting article on predators

Show images for: cotylosaurs

Taken from ritchisong, comparative vertebrate anatomy

what are the eating habits of cotylosaurs?

Search for: what are the eating habits of cotylosaurs?

highlights in the evolution of vertebrates

snakes are meat eates because lizards are

Search for: how do snakes drink water?

a digression but a fascinating book