In titles that provide answers to hundreds of science-based questions about animals and the environment, this series includes easy-to-understand and ocassionally funny answers along with detailed full-page art.
This new edition of Snakes in Question has been completely updated to take into account the most recent research available, offering useful scientific information about snakes while dispelling many widely-circulated myths and common fears. Accompanied by 100 stunning color photographs and written in the popular question-and-answer format of Smithsonian's “In Question” series, the book tells how snakes breathe, hear, smell, and much more. It covers not only the life cycle of snakes but also explores such phenomena as the rattlesnake's rattle, the viper's hiss, and the snake charmer's secrets. It addresses common folktales about snakes (do snakes milk cows?) and describes giant snakes, both real and imaginary. The authors also give expert advice on such subjects as distinguishing venomous species from harmless look-alikes and keeping snakes as pets.
How do snakes crawl and climb? What do they eat? How do they breathe, hear, and smell? What is the largest snake? Authoritative and accessible, this book answers the most frequently asked questions about snakes and provides a basic introduction for both adults and children to the habits and marvels of these limbless creatures. Nearly 160 illustrations, 55 in color.
Join National Geographic expert and TV personality Brady Barr on some wild adventures with snakes! Readers won't believe their eyes as they read Barr's hilarious—and completely true!—accounts of his interactions with some of the biggest, weirdest, and craziest snakes on Earth. Filled with engaging photos, fast facts, and fascinating sidebars, readers won't want to put this book down.
Anyone can look at a snake and see a creature unique unto itself, a reptile with a set of zoological and biological traits that are entirely its own. Just looking at this distinct animal raises many scientific questions. With regard to evolution, how did such an animal come to be? How does a snake move, and how do its sense organs differ from that of other reptiles? How does it eat, and how does it reproduce? Essentially, how does a snake "work"? In How Snakes Work: The Structure, Function and Behavior of the World's Snakes, leading zoologist Harvey B. Lillywhite has written the definitive scientific guide to the functional biology of snakes. Written for both herpetologists and a more general audience with an interest in the field, How Snakes Work features nearly two hundred color images of various species of snakes, used to provide visual examples of biological features explained in the text. Chapter topics include the evolutionary history of the snake, feeding, locomotion, the structure and function of skin, circulation and respiration, sense organs, sound production, temperature and thermoregulation, and reproduction. Containing all the latest research and advances in our biological knowledge of the snake, How Snakes Work is an indispensable asset to professional zoologists and enthusiasts alike.