CSU Merit Badge: Snakes!

To earn your Snakes Merit Badge, after you watch the video post a list (in the comments below) of 5 interesting factoids about snakes, and AFTER you have posted your report, you can take the test. Good luck!

Everyone who completes the assignment and the test before 11:59pm on 3/20 gets a 100 pt. bonus. Latecomers have until 3/27 to complete the assignment and test.

1. Watch the video!

It’s a long one….about 40 action-packed minutes.

2. Post a Fun Factoids List

Post your 5 Factoids in the comments below.

3. Take the Test!

Two-cat households may take the quiz together. Just be sure to type in both your names (example: “Homer and Reno”) on the first screen.


Get the Badge

Badges and 250 points will be awarded to those who complete the assignment and pass the quiz. 100 bonus points to those who finish before 11:59 pm on 3/20. The class will be available until 3/27.

30 comments

  1. Since I’m one of the last to get here, I chose to post five facts about one specific species of snake:

    Santa Catalina Rattlesnake

    1) One of the rarest snakes in the world.

    2) This does NOT live on the island in California. This rattlesnake is native to Santa Catalina Island off the western coast of Mexico.
    This is an insular species of rattlesnake — it exists on that island and nowhere else.

    3) It’s a rattlesnake without a rattle. This snake has a tail that produces “buttons” or round scales, just like any other rattlesnake. The difference is that the buttons fall off each time the snake sheds its skin, so a true rattle never forms.

    4) A common theory is that, long ago, red diamond rattlesnakes rafted over from the mainland and eventually became a descendant species.

    5) Their population is facing severe challenges due to the presence of feral cats, which prey on the snakes. There is a recently introduced program to reduce the number of feral cats on the island.

  2. 1/ Are solitude until mating time.
    2/ The smell of the old skin being shed will attract a mate.
    3/ Snakes use their tongue to smell as their tongue is 10,000 times more sensitive than a human.
    4/ Anacondas can remain underwater for 10 minutes at a time.I

    5/ A Black Mamba snake is the fastest snake in the world. Two drops can kill a human in two minutes.

    These are Shoko and mt facts on snakes.

  3. Here are my five snake facts.
    1. Most snakes are nonvenomous and those that have venom use it primarily to kill and subdue prey rather than for self-defense.
    2. The fossil record of snakes is relatively poor because snake skeletons are typically small and fragile making fossilization uncommon.
    3. Genetic studies in recent years have indicated snakes are not as closely related to monitor lizards as was once believed.
    4. Pit vipers, pythons, and some boas have infrared-sensitive receptors in deep grooves on the snout, which allow them to “see” the radiated heat of warm-blooded prey.
    5. The snake’s heart is encased in a sac, called the pericardium, located at the bifurcation of the bronchi. The heart is able to move around.

  4. Here are my five snake facts
    1. Snakes can’t bite food so have to swallow it whole.
    2. Snakes have flexible jaws which allow them to eat prey bigger than their head!
    3. Snakes are found on every continent of the world except Antarctica.
    4. Snakes have internal ears but not external ones.
    5. They are present in every continent except Antarctica.

    Passed test with 80%

  5. Snakes grow until they die but their skin does not grow with them which is why they shed their skin several times each year.

    Snakes have no eyelids so it is impossible to know if they are sleeping or lying wait.

    Snakes use their tongue to smell. They flick their tongue collecting scents to check out their surroundings. Their tongue is 10,000 times more sensitive than humans.

    Snakes have no external ears and can’t hear airborne sounds. It hears sounds that come from the ground with its belly.

    Anaconda snakes are the heaviest snakes in the world they weigh over 500 pounds and can grow up to 30 feet in length and 3 feet in girth.

  8. five factoids:
    1. about 3,000 species of snakes
    2. all snakes must skill to survive
    3. snakes grow until they die
    4. snakes shed skin 3-4 times a year
    5. most snakes move in serpentine method

  11. Here are my factoids:

    1. Snakes evolved from a four-legged reptilian ancestor—most likely a small, burrowing, land-bound lizard—about 100 million years ago. Some snakes, such as pythons and boas, still have traces of back legs.
    2. The decapitated head of a dead snake can still bite, even hours after death. These types of bites usually contain huge amounts of venom.
    3. Some animals, such as the Mongoose, are immune to snake venom.
    4. The inland taipan is the world’s most toxic snake, meaning it has both the most toxic venom and it injects the most venom when it bites. Its venom sacs hold enough poison to kill up to 80 people.
    5. Some snakes have over 200 teeth. The teeth aren’t used for chewing but they point backward to prevent prey from escaping the snake’s throat.

  12. Here are my factoids:

    1. There are 116 species of snakes in the United States. Only 19 of these species are poisonous.
    2. Snakes grow until they die, but their skin doesn’t grow with them, which is why they shed their skin. Snakes shed their skin 3 to 4 times each year.
    3. Snakes have no eyelids!
    4. The African Black Mamba is the fastest snake. It can travel at up to 12 mph.
    5. The Black Mamba bites repeatedly and two drops of venom can kill a human in 20 minutes.

  15. Here are my snake facts:
    1) The warmer a snake’s body, the more quickly it can digest its prey.
    2) Snakes can’t move their eyes.
    3) There an island called “Snake island” in Brazil that has 1 to 5 snakes per square meter.
    4) The amount of food snakes ingest determines how many offspring it will have.
    5) Snakes smell with their tongue.

    Now off to take the test! Remind me not to visit Brazil!!

  16. Mauricio if you watched the 38 minutes (mine stopped too) you’ve seen enough to take the test! I’m posting my FACTOIDS here AND back in the Lecture Hall just in case I misunderstood where to post them!
    FIVE INTERESTING FACTOIDS ABOUT SNAKES: (Report from Scout Teddy Kimmell, 3/20/19)

    1. The smallest snake in the world is the Barbados threadsnake, or Leptotyphlops carlae. It has an average length of four inches and is no wider that a strand of spaghetti. The snake has a shiny surface and is one of the blind snakes. Some people might mistake this animal for an earthworm, but it has the body structure of a snake.
    2. Snakes are found on every continent of the world except Antarctica.
    3. Some snakes have been known to explode after eating a large meal. For example, a 13-foot python blew up after it tried to eat a 6-foot alligator. The python was found with the alligator’s tail protruding from its midsection. Its head was missing.
    4. The Gaboon viper has the longest fangs of any snake, reaching about 2 inches (5 cm) long.
    5. Two-headed snakes are similar to conjoined twins: an embryo begins to split to create identical twins, but the process does not finish. Such snakes rarely survive in the wild because the two heads have duplicate senses, they fight over food, and one head may try to eat the other head.

    I found all of the things I learned about snakes to be very interesting but I still can’t STAND them!

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