This structure is sensitive to infrared radiation, which enables the snake to "see" heat images of warm-blooded prey.
It is unique among snakes in that the lower jaw is hinged in the middle, which enables the snake to grasp hard-bodied skinks with a firm ratchetlike grip.
Our results strongly indicate that for C. atrox, disintegrins have evolved into multifunctional proteins which evoke vomeronasally-salient cues, enabling the snake to relocate envenomated prey after the strike.
Now researchers have discovered one more tool in the Burmese python's kit of survival mechanisms – a previously unknown homing instinct that enables the giant snakes to travel great distances at speed, right back to any particular spot where the hunting was good.
This will enable the mouse to work.
Implementing this strategy in a physical robot model of the snake enables the device to ascend sandy slopes close to the angle of maximum slope stability.
And that motion will enable a snake to go uphill.
During a second encounter, the bear sniffed food adjacent to the snake, causing the snake to move.
Struggling, however, prompts the snake to squeeze.
This allows the snake to bend flexibly.
