As temperatures in the north gradually lowered, snakes also began to enter hibernation mode, and in the next few months, they would enter the hibernating nest and then wait motionless for the arrival of spring.
In fact, there are many animals that will enter hibernation in the winter, but different animals enter hibernation for different reasons, such as: bear hibernation is because there is less food in winter, in order to save energy the bear will enter the hibernation state, and in the hibernation state, the bear still has the ability to fight back, if someone dares to disturb them during their hibernation, the bear may fight back against the other party.
But snakes are different, snakes do not have any ability to fight back after hibernation, even if they encounter rats, they can not do anything, can only watch themselves being preyed by rats, so what is the reason for this?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="4" > rats eat snakes</h1>
In 2014, an incredible scene occurred in a zoo in Nanjing, where two mice were actually eating the body of the great king snake, and the other snakes in the snake box did not react to this, even the king snake attacked by the rat, did not fight back.
It turned out that the king snake that had been attacked by rats had just molted and its scales were relatively soft. The guinea pig is the food that the staff put to the snake, but the snake did not attack the mouse, but the mouse hunted the king snake, and ate the king snake several times, even exposing the flesh and bones inside. Although zoo staff said the snake's wounds were old ones, visitors disagreed because the wounds on the snakes were fresh.
In fact, the reason why the snake is attacked by rats and does not fight back is not only because of molting, but also because it is hibernating. We know that the food of the great king snake is rats, and most of the time, the great king snake will attack the other party as long as it encounters rats, and the little mouse has no power to fight back.
However, snakes are warming organisms, their body temperature will change with the changes in the external environment, the advantage of this is that they do not have to consume energy to maintain body temperature, but the disadvantage is that when the outside temperature is low, the body temperature of the snake will also decrease. The enzymes in the snake body need to improve the catalytic efficiency at the right temperature, and when the body temperature is low, the working ability of the enzyme will be greatly reduced, so that the snake cannot carry out normal activities, and the body will become stiff and difficult to move.
In addition, when the outside temperature is too low, the snake may freeze to death due to the low temperature. So when the outside temperature is below about 15 degrees Celsius, the snake will find a warm and safe nest to hibernate, and when the environment is suitable for the next year, they will wake up.
However, if the snake encounters a rat during hibernation, then for the snake it can only be slaughtered by the "rat", for no other reason than that they have no self-preservation ability at all.
It is worth noting that not all snakes will hibernate, and snakes living in the tropics rarely hibernate, and even if they hibernate, the hibernation period is relatively short. In addition, captive snakes will replenish light and warmth, and at the right temperature, snakes will not go into hibernation.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="12" > snake hibernates and has no self-preservation ability, why not migrate? </h1>
Many people will think that since snakes have no self-preservation ability when hibernating, and even former prey rats can bully it, why don't snakes migrate to other places to overwinter before winter comes?
First of all, we should say that migration is actually very energy-intensive, which means that snakes have to prey on a lot of food during migration. And the snake's progress is slower, and it may have already ushered in spring before it has migrated to its destination.
Second, snakes have no ability to protect themselves during hibernation, but as long as the cave is hidden deep enough, it can avoid most threats.
Another thing to say is that although we all regard the story of "the farmer and the snake" as a typical example of the snake not being grateful, but taking revenge. But in fact, the forcible rescue of a hibernating snake will lead to the death of the snake.
First of all, after forcibly waking up the hibernating snake, the snake is still unable to adapt to the cold environment, unable to find a companion, difficult to return to the cave for wintering, and staying on the ground may freeze to death due to low temperatures. Secondly, snakes do not have any self-preservation ability in the cold environment, a mouse, a chicken, any kind of predator can destroy it.
More importantly, snakes do not eat or drink during hibernation, purely consuming their own energy reserves, so snakes are actually very hungry when they end hibernation, and at this time, driven by instinct, they will hunt.
Also, the snake itself is not close to the person, although the farmer wakes up the snake with the warmth of the body, but the snake will also feel threatened when it sees the human, and will react stressfully, so that it will attack the human.
That is to say, although "farmers and snakes" want to tell us that we cannot take revenge like snakes, in fact, according to the nature of snakes, it is inevitable that hibernating snakes will attack farmers after being warmed up.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="21" > summary</h1>
There are many reasons why animals go into hibernation, and some animals have less food in winter and reduce consumption through hibernation. The reason why cold-blooded animals enter hibernation is because of the low temperature, resulting in their slow movement, in order to avoid being frozen to death and being found by other predators, and hide in a safe area for hibernation, snakes are because of this, it is precisely because they can not be active in the cold winter, so they will become the "food" of rats in winter, which is also the root cause of the folk proverb "snake eats rats for half a year, rats eat snakes for half a year".
#Snake ##毒蛇 #