Talk:Snake/Archive 2

Archive 1

Archive 2

Archive 3

Jumping snakes

Has anyone seen this article - it proves that dog-faced water snakes can actually jump ( which is considered a practically every reference on the net )

http://www.bbc.co.uk/expeditions/mangroves/stories/jumpingsnakes —Preceding unsigned comment added by 137.219.154.74 (talk) 04:29, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

Damn, it says "not available in your area." 174.111.242.35 (talk) 16:17, 30 June 2011 (UTC)

Pending changes

This article is one of a number selected for the early stage of the trial of the Wikipedia:Pending Changes system on the English language Wikipedia. All the articles listed at Wikipedia:Pending changes/Queue are being considered for level 1 pending changes protection.

The following request appears on that page:

Comments on the suitability of theis page for "Pending changes" would be appreciated.

Please update the Queue page as appropriate.

Note that I am not involved in this project any much more than any other editor, just posting these notes since it is quite a big change, potentially

Regards, Rich Farmbrough, 00:04, 17 June 2010 (UTC).

Frequency of shedding data incorrect.

As a snake owner, I can confirm that young snakes can easily shed more than four times a year and often do if food is plentiful. Unfortunately, I haven't yet found a peer reviewed citation for that, due to not having paid access to the journals. If someone who does have access could find a cite that would be nice, as the current data is incorrect. I'll also contact a herpetologist I know to see if he can think of a source.

Also, the current cite for the "up to four times a year" bit is now a bum link. (I'd remove it myself, but I don't have enough experience to be sure I won't bork the article in the process)

EDIT: I also just noticed that the cobra photo under Snake Charming seems to be of a cobra that's "in blue" or "milky" as we in the pet trade call it, meaning that its vision is impaired by the first stages of shedding. It might be worth noting in the image blurb. AbstractMage (talk) 19:37, 18 August 2010 (UTC)

Hm. Are you sure it's not just a camera artifact? DS (talk) 13:28, 24 August 2010 (UTC)

I've looked at it again and I'm certain that the cobra is either milky, or has something seriously wrong with it's eye. AbstractMage (talk) 10:14, 25 September 2010 (UTC)

Ambiguous language

"Living snakes are found on every continent except Antarctica and on most islands."

Are they found on most islands or are they not (if "most islands" is included in the exception)? 93.172.153.234 (talk) 18:29, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

Place names

The "Place Names" section is unnecessary. A simple sentence explaining how various places are named after snakes should not constitute an entire sub-section. Moreover, the sentence is not grammatically correct. 142.162.59.85 (talk) 01:32, 5 September 2010 (UTC)

snake eater?

In "consumption", someone had added the "information" that special forces are nicknamed "snake eaters". Is that just videogame knowledge of can it be verified (which it is not yet)? Thx, --88.75.209.42 (talk) 01:52, 14 September 2010 (UTC)

This still needs to be corrected. This should be removed until a source is provided. Not only is it trivia that's barely relevant to begin with, the addition of the video game reference is just one mosre step out on an already think branch. Unnecessary detail for an article this broad. 204.65.34.246 (talk) 18:55, 25 October 2011 (UTC)

Treatment of snakebites

"To produce antivenom, a mixture of the venoms of the different species of rattlesnakes, copperheads, and cottonmouths is injected into the body of a horse in ever-increasing dosages until the horse is immunized. Blood is then extracted from the immunized horse; the serum is separated and further purified and freeze-dried. It is reconstituted with sterile water and becomes antivenom. For this reason, people who are allergic to horses cannot be treated using antivenom"

This information is incorrect, horse allergic individuals can be and are treated with antivenin

Reference: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2146932/pdf/canfamphys00081-0113.pdf — Preceding unsigned comment added by Matthewsills (talk • contribs) 18:30, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Um, did you read the paper you linked to? The individual was NOT treated with horse-based antivenom specifically because of the risk of allergic reactions. In the discussion, it mentions that some authors have suggested the *possibility* in the case of severe bites, but in no way should that be construed as an endorsement of such a treatment method. Mokele (talk) 20:09, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

space missing between two words

I was reading this article and noticed this. I can't edit the article and I was bored so I wrote this, so that maybe someone can fix it and remove this post :P It is in the Perception section: ...vomeronasal organ orJacobson's organ...Sekmet64 (talk) 20:55, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Varanoidea & snakes

Okay, so I don't know whose dumb idea to put the snake's superfamily as Varanoidea, but it needs to go. The only way snakes and varanids are related, is that they are both in the order Squamata. I don't know how to remove it, so if someone else could, please do. Snakes are not included in Varanoidea. --TangoFett (talk) 02:06, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

While the phylogenetic position of snakes is controversial, this positions is hardly "stupid", and is in fact the conclusion of the most thorough morphology-based phylogeny (Estes 1988), as welll as several of Lee's excellent papers. For other references, see [1] and Pythonomorpha. In future, I recommend against proclamations of "stupidity" when you're clearly unfamiliar with the literature of the field. Mokele (talk) 02:40, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

Then place a source in there. But as far as Wikipedia dictates, Serpentes belongs to, for some reason, Scleroglossa. Which is also stupid, if you don't mind my saying so. Serpentes should simply be a suborder of Squamata and that's it. In my opinion, of course. --TangoFett (talk) 05:31, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

References can't be placed in the taxobox. And your commentary on what is "stupid" is, frankly, laughable. It's pretty clear you lack the knowledge necessary for an informed opinion on the topic. Mokele (talk) 12:45, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

Blind Snakes

Blind snakes are not completely blind, but they do have very poor vision. They live almost thier whole lives underground. They are quite thin & are covered with smooth scales. These scales are smoother than normal snakes. This allows them to move more easily through the soil in which they live in. They can't open their mouth wide, but they don't really need to, for usually all they eat is termites & ants. Obviously these little snakes don't need venom for thier live-stlye so they don't have it. They also may vary from pink, black, brown, or blue colors.

                                                                                                --Nikidoodle22 (talk) 20:05, 22 February 2011 (UTC)

World range of snakes map is inaccurate

The map at the bottom of the taxabox purporting to show the global range of snakes, is quite inaccurate in regards to their northern limit in North America. The Common Garter Snake for instance has a normal range extending over 1200 kilometers north of the inferred northern limit shown on the map. Other snakes living north of the demarcation on the map would be the Western Rattlesnake, the Gopher Snake, the Western Hognose Snake, and the Plaines and Western Terrestrial Garter snakes. McGill Universities biodiversity site has links to various maps showing the range of many northern species and can be found at http://canadianbiodiversity.mcgill.ca/english/species/herps/squamata.htm

I propose the existing map be removed until an amended version can be created. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Philip72 (talk • contribs) 09:51, 26 February 2011 (UTC)

So fix it, but the current map stays until a fixed version is available, since it's accurate for ~99.9% of species. Mokele (talk) 16:32, 26 February 2011 (UTC)

The map is also inaccurate for sea snakes, since Pelamis platura can be found along the Baja California coast and even in the Gulf of California. It is also known to occur in northern New Zealand. Here is a more accurate map of sea snake range:

Edit request from Bigfixer, 30 May 2011

in Religion section, (Book of Numbers 26:6–9) should be (Book of Numbers 21:6–9). wrong chapter Bigfixer (talk) 12:19, 30 May 2011 (UTC)

Done - Happysailor ^(Talk) 12:51, 30 May 2011 (UTC)

Caduceus and the rod of asclepius

In the article, the caduceus is said to be a medical symbol. That is incorrect. The rod of ascepius, which had one snake and no wings, was a medical symbol, but the caduceus which had two snakes and sometimes a pair of wings, was a symbol of commerce, messengers and negotiation. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.65.18.69 (talk) 17:54, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

Spelling

On left-hand-side margin, in blue print. the term for snake's shedding skin phenomenon is MISSPELLED with the letter 'u'-like so: 'moUlting'. I kindly request a spelling CORRECTION to: 'mOlting'. Thank you AK63 (talk) 11:06, 22 October 2011 (UTC)

This is not a spelling error; it is the British English spelling. Since Wikipedia is an international encyclopedia, we use many variations of English. Also, when you add a new topic to a talk page, add it to the bottom of the page. (Not a big deal, it's just tradition.) Danger (talk) 14:31, 22 October 2011 (UTC)

I looked it up though and per WP:ENGVAR and this edit, this article should be written in American English. Danger (talk) 16:02, 22 October 2011 (UTC)

unclear paragraph

The paragraph beginning "Frontal limbs are nonexistent in all known snakes." goes on to talk about the spine, but doesn't really say anything about why there are no front limbs. Probably needs to be broken in two? Huw Powell (talk) 19:33, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

I've fixed the "frontal" bit, but otherwise it seems pretty clear - there are no forelimbs because the Hox genes only signal for thoracic segments, thus there is no cervical/thoracic boundary to trigger forelimb development. HCA (talk) 19:53, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Edit request on 29 May 2012

Stripesy19 (talk) 23:53, 29 May 2012 (UTC)

I would like to change the "snake" article because in the section titled Perception ( in the vibration sensitivity part ) I would like to add in that snakes have a special little bone the skull connected to the lower jaw and quadrate bone. This bone detects and transmits vibrations collected by the lower jaw bone touching the ground which is then transferred to the quadrate bone to be analyzed by the snake's inner ear. This function picks up low-frequency sounds and vibrations. And this is my reason to add to this article. My source was from my book titled "SNAKE" by Chris Mattison. I hope to inform other viewers and also hope to expand in my studies of herpetology. Please except my request.

     - Alyssa Mirizzi

 Not done you have not specified the precise edit you would like doing. Egg Centric 21:14, 31 May 2012 (UTC)

Edit request on 8 July 2012

In the Distribution section, the reference to "Australia and Tasmania" should simply say "Australia". Tasmania is part of Australia and to include it separately is redundant and misleading.

Stuarterrey (talk) 13:31, 8 July 2012 (UTC)

 Done —HueSatLum 23:40, 8 July 2012 (UTC)

Symbolism: Roosevelt vs. Standard Oil

The caption under the file PuckCartoon-TeddyRoosevelt-05-23-1906.jpg as displayed on the page reads "... grappling with a giant snake..." when it should read, as evidence by careful examination of the picture, "... grappling with two giant snakes..." The picture in question depicts Mr. Roosevelt grappling with a pair of snakes. I can think of no reason the caption should not be amended. 24.239.63.169 (talk) 21:42, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

Edit request on 5 October 2012

The order of authors in Ref. 51 is wrong. It should be "Hoso, Masaki; Asami, Takahiro; Hori, Michio".

Winter habits

There is no explination of hibernation or winter sleeping habits of snakes in colder environments. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wrennick (talk • contribs) 16:39, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

Symbolism

Please, check out this phrase: " The nine-headed Lernaean Hydra that Hercules defeated and the three Gorgon sisters are children of Gaia, the earth" - In fact - Gorgon sisters and Lernaean Hydra was grandchildren of Gaia. 46.205.34.193 (talk) 00:18, 14 December 2012 (UTC) kuba

wording

The following sentence is awkward; snakes are found on every continent except Antarctica, in the Pacific and Indian Oceans,. Its difficult to tell whether the word "except" applies to the Pacific and Indian ocean or not. Pass a Method talk 12:22, 9 February 2013(UTC)

Ophidiophobia

No mention of Ophidiophobia (fear of snakes)? ShakyIsles (talk) 00:36, 28 May 2013 (UTC)

Snakes had legs?

Did snakes really have legs? How did the Old Testament writers know about this, prior to knowledge about evolution? Would this prove Genesis to be true? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.161.252.56 (talk) 02:47, 31 May 2013 (UTC)

Yes, snakes evolved from limbed lizards. No, this has no bearing on Genesis - the term "serpent" in those days included animals with legs, fictional or not, such as dragons, various lizards, sea-serpents, etc. That snakes lost their legs no more proves Genesis than the fact that elephants' ancestors lacked trunks proves the Rudyard Kipling story about how a crocodile pulled on the nose of the first elephant, stretching it into a trunk. "Why does this animal look this way?" is a common starting point for myths all over the world, Genesis included. HCA (talk) 14:05, 31 May 2013 (UTC)

The talk page is for discussing improvments to the article, not for discussing the subject of the article. Blackbombchu (talk) 04:27, 26 November 2013 (UTC)

Snakes in popular culture

There is no section about this, which should be added below the religion section. /Jonipoon (talk) 09:09, 18 July 2013 (UTC)

Snakes and Human Evolution

A news item today - 2013 10 29 - discusses breakthrough research findings in Japan confirming some aspects of the evolutionary Snake Detection Theory. This theory posits that sharp vision and other neurological elements of humans/primates arose from a need to detect snakes in the environment. Someone with a background in biology or herpetology may wish to add a section to the present article dealing with this subject. Here are a couple of links: here and here. Orthotox (talk) 07:23, 29 October 2013 (UTC)

There's also another source for that same information at http://www.livescience.com/4183-fear-snakes-drove-pre-human-evolution.html. That source also has extra information that the other 2 sources you found don't have that snakes formed venom as an evolutionary adaption to good human vision, which made humans have even better vision. Blackbombchu (talk) 04:45, 26 November 2013 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 21 March 2014

Let me link to parts of https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Snakes_of_Europe, please

Herper.gr (talk) 11:35, 21 March 2014 (UTC)

Not done: please establish a consensus for this alteration before using the {{edit semi-protected}} template. Sam Sailor ^Sing 17:49, 21 March 2014 (UTC)

Merge Snakes_of_Europe -Habits

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Snakes_of_Europe/Habits my new book!

Herper.gr (talk) 12:43, 21 March 2014 (UTC)

Congratulations, and good luck with it! Best, Sam Sailor ^Sing 17:50, 21 March 2014 (UTC)

editing

if the site invites everyone to edit its pages, why is editing restricted? BlakeSnake (talk) 21:34, 28 March 2014 (UTC)

Because of idiots with nothing better to do than vandalize WP pages. HCA (talk) 13:54, 29 March 2014 (UTC)

can't you make it so that only IP numbers cant edit. I logged in so there is no reason I shouldn't be able to add to the page. — Preceding unsigned comment added by BlakeSnake (talk • contribs)

Take a look at the protection policy. ProtossPylon 19:52, 30 March 2014 (UTC)

See also: new link to add

See also: Snakes of Europe https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Snakes_of_Europe

Propose adding the above link. Ayone disagree? Better fitting than a stub link to a commercial encyclopedia.

Snakes in Popular Culture (reply)

I think I have one thing for Snakes in popular culture. "Craig, from Nickelodeon's Sanjay and Craig is a anthropomorphic snake in the show and one of it's main characters."

Could be clearer

Living snakes are found on every continent except Antarctica, in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and on most smaller land masses — exceptions include some large islands, such as Ireland and New Zealand, and many small islands of the Atlantic and central Pacific.

Is "in the Pacific and Indian Oceans" referring to sea snakes or to snakes that live on islands in those oceans? I think this sentence ought to make it clearer. If the former, it should be explicitly mentioned at this point that sea snakes even exist, as most people at this stage of the article will probably not be thinking about them. Also, the insertion of "in the Pacific and Indian Oceans" between "every continent" and "most smaller land masses" rather confuses the essential connection between those two and makes it less clear what "smaller" is comparing with. 81.152.70.161 (talk) 03:14, 16 October 2014 (UTC)

Also, I forgot to mention, the construction with "except" is confusing. It could be read as if "except" applies to the Pacific and Indian Oceans and the smaller land masses too. Maybe someone who can edit this article can sort out this sentence. 81.152.70.161 (talk) 03:37, 16 October 2014 (UTC)

How's the edit I just made? Better? HCA (talk) 14:09, 16 October 2014 (UTC)

Great, that reads much more clearly now. There are two small typos: "widespready" for "widespread", and a superfluous space after "Pacific." and before the citation. 86.183.31.65 (talk) 22:48, 16 October 2014 (UTC)

Fixed! HCA (talk) 02:21, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

Range maps are inconsistent

Approximate world distribution of snakes, all species

range of sea snakes shown in lime green

The maps to the right, which appear respectively at snake and Hydrophiinae, are too different for comfort. 81.152.70.161 (talk) 03:19, 16 October 2014 (UTC)

So the snake map is, I think, closer to reality. This map (https://www.vapaguide.info/page/19) shows a total seasnake range very similar to the snake map overall, though it's mostly driven by Pelamis platurus. However, I found a wide range of ranges (hehehehe), so I'm not sure how accurate any given map is, especially given the difficulty in assessing presence/absence of a pelagic species way out in the open ocean. But it is *definite* that yellow-bellied sea snakes live along the pacific coast of the Americas, so the seasnake map is definitely wrong in that respect. HCA (talk) 14:02, 16 October 2014 (UTC)

Brain

I didn't see any mention of the snake's brain in the article. Not my area of expertise, but thought I'd mention it. Tony Holkham (talk) 21:47, 10 December 2014 (UTC)

Evolutionary history

Someone more involved in the project may want to take a look at http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186%2Fs12862-015-0358-5 It includes a life restoration of the hypothetical snake ancestor and evolutionary info. BMC Ev. Bio. is Creative Commons licensed. IJReid ^discuss 15:04, 21 May 2015 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 28 November 2015

Why can't everyone edit this page? HarrySnake (talk) 18:20, 28 November 2015 (UTC) HarrySnake (talk) 18:20, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

• The page is protected so only autoconfirmed users can edit it due to persistent vandalism over the years. If you want to submit a request to edit the page, since you are not autoconfirmed yet, you can do so. Please remember that requests need to be specific, formed in a change X to Y format, and all claims must be backed up with reliable sources. --Stabila711 (talk) 19:03, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

Grammatical/spelling mistake under 'Legless lizards' subtitle.

In the 'Legless lizards' section, line 729 in the page source, there is a line that reads "there are may other species". I believe this should read "many" instead. This sentence could also be improved, possibly with some punctuation, e.g. with the use of a comma before and after the word "superficially".

2605:6000:694A:C800:F94A:8804:E9E8:8186 (talk) 01:43, 10 January 2016 (UTC)

I fixed type and copy-edited the sentence. Ruslik_Zero 17:52, 10 January 2016 (UTC)

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 2 external links on Snake. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add {{cbignore}} after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add {{nobots|deny=InternetArchiveBot}} to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:

• Added archive https://web.archive.org/20060805131135/http://www.szgdocent.org:80/resource/rr/c-slimy.htm to http://www.szgdocent.org/resource/rr/c-slimy.htm
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/20071125210255/http://www.sdgfp.info:80/Wildlife/Snakes/SnakeInfo.htm to http://www.sdgfp.info/Wildlife/Snakes/SnakeInfo.htm

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 18 January 2022).

• If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
• If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—^{cyberbot II}_{Talk to my owner:Online} 23:48, 5 February 2016 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 5 April 2016

Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format. - a boat that can float! (watch me float) 05:26, 5 April 2016 (UTC)

dead external link

external link no. 1 is dead (snaketracks.com domain for sale) 93.194.105.221 (talk) 15:54, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

Someone removed it. Gap9551 (talk) 15:59, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 26 October 2016

Please change this paragraph:

"Two 2016 studies reported snakes limbs stopped about 150million years ago, caused by DNA gene mutations in the Zone of Polarizing Activity Regulatory Sequence (ZRS). Adult snakes do not have limbs, but snake embryos do, the limb development is stopped by the ZRS gene mutations."

to this:

"In 2016 two studies reported that limb loss in snakes is associated with DNA mutations in the Zone of Polarizing Activity Regulatory Sequence (ZRS), a regulatory region of the Sonic hedgehog gene which is critically required for limb development. Most of the adult snakes do not have limbs, but basal snakes such as pythons and boas do have hindlimb rudiments. Python embryos even have fully developed hind limb buds, but their later development is stopped by the DNA mutations in the ZRS. "

because the original paragraph is not scientifically accurate and misleading. We also added a reference to a different news source that was a better summary of the two papers for lay audiences. This is a request from the authors of the original Cell paper

Gopnik1986 (talk) 00:21, 26 October 2016 (UTC)

References

Edit made, thanks for the suggestion! HCA (talk) 16:29, 26 October 2016 (UTC)

Actual reason for no snakes in Ireland?

This article presents the Patrick legend without any alternative, and ... well, I had always assumed that Ireland was too cold to have snakes because the only places I had ever seen snakes in the wild was Japan, but this article puts snakes in most of northern Europe, which throws that theory out the window. Do they seasonally migrate into colder climates but not to certain islands? If this article presents the Patrick legend (and I think it should) it definitely should balance it out by explaining that there were no snakes in Ireland prior to Patrick's arrival either, and giving the reason. Hijiri 88 (聖やや) 23:16, 22 May 2017 (UTC)