Every year, when the temperature drops to a certain level, the snake will rush to find a safe, hidden and warm place to hibernate. So the question is, there are also prey in the winter, but why do snakes have to hibernate?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="2" Why should > snakes hibernate? </h1>
In nature, there are many animals that need to hibernate, such as: bears, squirrels, etc. But snakes and their reasons for hibernation are not the same, bears hibernate more because of lack of food in winter, but snake hibernation is because they simply cannot survive in a lower temperature environment.
Snakes, belonging to thermotropic organisms, they themselves do not consume energy for maintaining body temperature, the advantage of this is that they can save a lot of energy, so their demand for food is not as high as mammals, only need very little energy to survive each year, in years of food shortage, snakes can survive with this advantage.
But temperate animals have a fatal drawback, when the temperature drops to a certain extent, their body temperature will also decrease, which will cause their bodies to stiffen and unable to walk. This is because the energy required for biological activities requires enzymes in the body to catalyze, but enzymes have higher temperature requirements, and when the body temperature of snakes is low, the activity of enzymes will be greatly reduced, and the energy produced in their bodies will not be able to meet the needs of activities, which will lead to slow movement and stiffness of the body.
In fact, not only snakes, but also other cold-blooded animals, such as: when the ancients hunted monitor lizards, they often chose the early morning, when the external environment temperature was low, the dragon's ability to move slowly, and there was almost no ability to resist human attacks. But by noon, when the monitor lizards are exposed to the sun, their body temperature will rise, and they may pose a threat to humans.
When the outside temperature drops below 15°C, snakes will rush to find a safe and warmer place to spend the winter. In order to survive the winter, they are often gathered together, multiple snakes share a cave, during hibernation, they do not eat or drink, the body's metabolism will be reduced to a minimum, just to reduce energy consumption.
It is also worth noting that if the temperature is too low in winter, it may freeze to death a large number of snakes, and the number of snakes will be significantly reduced in the coming year.
In the fable "The Farmer and the Snake", the stiff snake that the farmer encounters is actually a snake that cannot move because of the low temperature. After the farmer used his body to warm the snake, the snake mistakenly thought that spring had arrived, and more importantly, because there was no food in winter, the first thing the snake did after waking up was to eat, and the farmer was very pitiful, and was bitten to death by the snake he warmed up.
However, the snakes that are warmed by the farmer cannot survive, because the outside temperature is low, the snake is directly exposed to the low temperature environment, it will be frozen to death, even if it is not frozen, mice, cats, etc. can bite them to death.
In addition, snakes do not have any ability to protect themselves in winter, and the old hens raised at home can eat the snake like a bug.
However, not all snakes need to hibernate, in the tropics, snakes rarely hibernate, they are active all year round, so people here need to pay attention to snake prevention all year round.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" Data-track="13" Why don't > snakes migrate? </h1>
It can be said that snakes are very dangerous during hibernation, they may be frozen to death by low temperatures, and may also be eaten by other animals, even if some animals have been their food, such as mice.
If snakes are very dangerous during hibernation, why don't they migrate to live elsewhere? Can't we wait until the next spring to blossom and then return to our hometown?
Objectively speaking, snakes rarely migrate long distances, and the reason why they do so is because snakes have no legs, their mobility is not fast, and they are not suitable for long-distance migration.
In addition, the energy required for long-distance migration is also very much, compared to finding a cave in the same place to protect itself from the cold, the survival rate may be higher, so the snake has given up the plan to migrate.
In autumn, snakes hunt for hibernation, when they need to hoard more food, otherwise they may die from energy consumption during hibernation. It is precisely because of this that this season is the season of high incidence of snake activity, and in areas where snakes are frequent, people need to pay attention to snake prevention.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="19" > summary</h1>
Snakes hibernate to survive, and their body structure determines that they cannot live in low temperatures, so when the temperature drops below 15 degrees Celsius, they look for a warm and safe place to overwinter. It's just that during hibernation, snakes have no resistance, any animal may kill them, not only that, the low temperature will also make the snake freeze to death, so winter is relatively difficult for snakes.