Snakes Motabolism Essay, Research Paper
?Snakes Metabolism
Eating, or ingesting food, is one of the main characteristics of the animal kingdom.
Most of these animals metabolize their food at a rapid passe. But the metabolism of a
snake is much slower then many other animals. This is due to one major factor. That is
the temperature in which their bodies are. The metabolism works the same as other
animals. It is just slower in a snake. The metabolism needs to be slower since the snake
doesn?t eat very often. This paper will prove that a snakes metabolism is slow because of
4 different reasons: A. behavior B. evolution C. temperature D. lifestyle.
Most animals (including humans) eat at least once a day. If we go longer then
about a week we could die of starvation. This is because our metabolic rate is fast. It
burns whatever food we eat to make energy. When there is no more food to burn then we
need to eat again. We do not store food for long periods of time either. Snakes on the
other hand don?t have to eat half as much as we do. They can eat about once a month and
still be well fed. Snakes can even go for a full year without food. Of course this wouldn?t
be very healthy, but they would be able to survive. The reason snake can do this is
because they have a much slower metabolic rate. They can store their food for much
longer. When food is burned/metabolized it makes heat energy for the organism to live.
Snakes can get this energy from basking in the sun. this is why they can go longer with
out food. (Internet source-houston.rr.com)
“Metabolism” in a biochemical sense is burning food in slow motion. If you set
fire to food, you get ash (residual carbon, salts and metals), carbon dioxide, water vapor
(both lost as gasses), and a *whole* lot of energy in the form of heat. Metabolism is the
same thing done very slowly. The body reduces food items to water, carbon dioxide,
waste products, and a *whole* lot of energy. The difference is that, by doing it a step at
a time, very slowly, living things can (a) trap some of that energy in a form (usually
adenosine triphosphate or ‘ATP’) which can be used as needed to drive chemical reactions
inside cells and (b) use some of the food breakdown products to make proteins, DNA,
cell wall materials and other things the body needs for maintenance and growth.
However, the process isn’t all that efficient. and a lot of the energy is still lost as
heat.(Toby White)
A snakes whole life (including the metabolism) depends on temperature. They
need to be warm. About 150 million years ago birds, maybe other dinosaurs, and the
fuzzy little things that would later become mammals evolved, at about the same time
(curious, no?) a mechanism for eating much more than would be good for a lizard and
metabolizing it very fast and inefficiently. This biochemical sloppiness generated a lot of
heat and kept them warm all the time. As a result, they could be very much more active
because, within reasonable limits, ALL of the chemical reactions needed to run an animal
work faster at higher temperature. In fact, speed actually doubles with an increase of
about 10 degrees Centigrade. This capacity to generate and regulate internal temperature
is called “endothermy.” Snakes are NOT endotherms. Snakes, lizards, fish — in fact all
living things except birds and mammals — are “ectotherms.” Their temperature rises and
falls with the weather. The huge advantage to this is that they don’t have to eat anything
near as much as an endotherm. Some snakes can easily go months without eating. In fact
the big carnivorous snakes — boas, pythons — typically eat only once a week or so, even
less in colder months. (Internet Source-Dinodata.com)
Snakes are NOT endotherms. Snakes, lizards, fish — in fact all living things
except birds and mammals — are “ectotherms.” Their temperature rises and falls with the
weather. The huge advantage to this is that they don’t have to eat anything near as much
as an endotherm. Some snakes can easily go months without eating. In fact the big
carnivorous snakes — boas, pythons — typically eat only once a week or so, even less in
colder months. (Toby White)
Now this sort of diet doesn’t change the rules of chemistry. Its still very difficult
to move fast enough to catch anything at all, socialize with other snakes, or do whatever
else snakes do in their spare time, at low temperatures. So snakes use behavioral tricks to
regulate temperature. In particular, they bask in the sun to heat up until things are
reasonably toasty, then go about their business for a while until they get slow. Many are
ambush predators. They lie about most of the time in semi-sunny places, with patterns
that make them hard to see near bushes where there is both sun and shade, between rocks,
half buried in leaf litter — that sort of place. They gather energy and wait for dinner to be
delivered to them, in the form of a small animal coming down a game trail. They use that
energy to strike very quickly and kill by swallowing, poison, or constriction — very rarely
with teeth.(Toby White)
So far, this is pretty typical ectotherm behavior and metabolism. Not very
different from carnivorous lizards, frogs, salamanders, or even fish. But snakes are a bit
unique. Unlike all of the above critters, snakes evolved from lizards about the same time
that mammals were developing, maybe 100 million years ago. Their first and favorite
treat (those that don’t live on insects) is mammals. To get to mammals they had to learn
unusual behaviors like night-hunting, underground hunting, and eating really big meals as
mammals got bigger after the dinosaurs died off (65 million years ago). Snakes needed
something more too. So they have evolved a generally higher basal metabolism than most
other ectotherms. In fact, some snakes can develop enough heat to incubate their eggs
with body warmth, like a bird. They can also huddle together underground and make
enough warmth to keep from freezing on cold nights or even over the winter. In fact they
often hibernate over winter like mammals. (Toby White)
A snake has a pretty laid back life style. They eat when the food comes to them
and they bask in the sun all day. They do not like to have to go looking for their food.
This is why they don?t eat a lot. Another reason why they don?t eat a lot is because of the
way they eat. Snakes eat big portions of food but they don?t eat a lot. A decent size snake
like a Burmese python can eat a pig. They do not chew-they just swallow. So the food
just sits in their stomach as stored fat and waits to be used as energy. Since eating (for a
snake) takes a lot of energy, they once again to not eat very often. A snake must constrict
it prey, not including venomous snakes, and then use a mad amount of muscles in its
stomach to push it down to the middle where it can wait to be digested. So the snake
doesn?t eat a lot because of some reasons listed above, thus giving it the slow metabolic
rate characteristic. (Internet source-houston.rr.com)
Some snakes hibernate. And most have to go for long periods of time without
food. This is another reason that the metabolic rate is slower. They need to be able to
store food for a long time so they do not starve. As the paper has mentioned earlier,
snakes do not have to eat hardly as much as other animals. A snake will store its food for
about 3 months. During this time it does not eat or drink. The metabolism goes even
slower then usual during this time. This is because of the cold weather and the fact that
the snake has to store its food for 3 months.(Internet source-herpetology.com)
Every living thing has to go through some sort of eating and producing waste
product cycle. Humans have a high metabolic rate. This means that they eat more and
have fast metabolisms. Snakes are different. They have a slow metabolism. This enables
them to eat less and stay healthy. They needed this characteristic because of the way they
live. Behavior, evolution, temperature, and the life style of the snake are four reasons
why their metabolic rate is slower.