Jump to content
Please support this forum by joining the SH Patreon ×
Sturgeon's House

Snakes! The Best Squamates


Priory_of_Sion

Recommended Posts

A Gaboon Viper is on the loose in my part of the world, which is unfortunate for all parties involved.

Also the journal of experimental biology released a paper detailed that constrictors kill prey by cutting off blood circulation and not suffocation. I'd link but too lazy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
  • 9 months later...

Snakes are absolutely beautiful animals, and a constrictors are deadly and in the most terrific and unique way, but no extant serpent compares to the Tzar of the squamates, the Titanoboa. It weighed 2500 lbs (13,135 kg), measured 42 ft (12.8 m) and killed by constriction with a force of 400 psi.

220px-Titanoboa_1_%287684792594%29.jpg Life-sized model from the Smithsonian

 

220px-Titanoboa_vertebrae.jpg Vertebrae of the Titanoboa compared to a modern boa vertebra (center)

 

Somewhat silly video, but relevant:

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How many joules is that? I'm a bit rusty on my conversion factors.

Force doesn't have units of PSI. 

 

Psi is Pressure per square inch. 400 PSI is 2.758e+6 Pascals. A pascal is a Newton/Meter^2. Newtons are Kg*m/s^2.

 

Multiply a Newton by a distance (meters) and you get Joules. Joules = Kg*m^2 / s^2

 

So if this thing had a pressure output of 2.758e6 pascals, that's roughly 27.5 atmospheres.

 

Which means this thing can squeeze you at 27.5x atmospheric pressure at sea level. 

 

For perspective again, a depth change of 33 feet (10 meters) in the ocean will equate to adding an extra atmosphere (1) of pressure to a submerged body. 

 

So 27.5*10 = 275 meters. To get the same pressure, you would have to dive 275 meters below the ocean surface. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Force doesn't have units of PSI. 

 

Psi is Pressure per square inch. 400 PSI is 2.758e+6 Pascals. A pascal is a Newton/Meter^2. Newtons are Kg*m/s^2.

 

Multiply a Newton by a distance (meters) and you get Joules. Joules = Kg*m^2 / s^2

 

So if this thing had a pressure output of 2.758e6 pascals, that's roughly 27.5 atmospheres.

 

Which means this thing can squeeze you at 27.5x atmospheric pressure at sea level. 

 

For perspective again, a depth change of 33 feet (10 meters) in the ocean will equate to adding an extra atmosphere (1) of pressure to a submerged body. 

 

So 27.5*10 = 275 meters. To get the same pressure, you would have to dive 275 meters below the ocean surface. 

 

That's the YOKE

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have the following exchange about five times a summer. 

 

*Hiker coming toward me. I'm biking or running*

 

"There's a snake up there, just a heads up."

 

"Did you move it?" 

 

*I get the most "are you fucking insane" look from this guy/girl*

 

"I'm going to take that as a no."

 

*Finds snake, uses small stick to move it from the trail*

 

 

 

On crowded trails, I move snakes. More for their safety than anyone else's. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have the following exchange about five times a summer. 

 

*Hiker coming toward me. I'm biking or running*

 

"There's a snake up there, just a heads up."

 

"Did you move it?" 

 

*I get the most "are you fucking insane" look from this guy/girl*

 

"I'm going to take that as a no."

 

*Finds snake, uses small stick to move it from the trail*

 

 

 

On crowded trails, I move snakes. More for their safety than anyone else's. 

 

Isn't there a parable about moving a snake from a well-traveled path?

 

...

 

...

 

Well there should be!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

 

Boomslang has to be one of the best names in animalia 

I always thought that the boomslang's close cousin, the twig snake, doesn't get enough love:

 

JhrwMJK.jpg

 

The neck inflation is a sign that you done fucked up and should back off:

 

5dizkV4.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Saw a Timber and an Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake down here last month. 

 

It was a juvenile gray rat snake. I was at a university outreach event for my herpetology class and someone brought this rat snake. The asshole bit basically everyone that tried to pick it up. It bit me four or five times that day by that bugger. 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...