With horns on the head and legs on the body, this mascot for the Year of the Snake actually makes sense?

Kind tips

The pictures in this article contain snakes, and most of them have been marked with sliding warnings

Snake-phobic friends can read this with confidence

The New Year is coming, first of all, I would like to wish you all a happy new year!

The Year of the Snake has not yet arrived, but the discussion about the mascot for the Year of the Snake has already become popular on the Internet. These snake mascots that have appeared in various cities have various shapes, but most of them are in an awkward situation - the simple ones look like insects, the gorgeous ones look like dragons, and they just don't seem to look like snakes.

Snake Year mascots from all over the world | Xiaohongshu: @柒月

However, some of these strange-looking snakes can actually be found in reality .

Adding ears to a snake? That's not okay.

Many snake mascots have beautiful horns or ears on their heads, which make them look more adorable than the bald snake heads we imagine - but the problem is that all existing snakes do not have such developed external ear pinnae , and they don't even have ear holes like their close relatives lizards.

The snake in Nanjing Deji Plaza has "ears" on its head that are more similar to the Mexican axolotl｜Xiaohongshu: @是你七

As early as the Jurassic period when dinosaurs ruled the earth, a group of lizards burrowed underground to live in order to avoid predators and competitors from the ground. They gradually evolved into slender and flexible bodies, and their limbs, shoulder girdle, sternum, pelvis and left lung lobe were highly degraded or disappeared. This is the ancestor of all existing snakes; when drilling underground, dirt and other debris can easily fall into the open ear hole, causing ear canal blockage or infection. Therefore, during the long process of evolution, snakes have degraded their outer and middle ears, leaving only the inner ear .

For a long time, the academic community believed that all snakes were "deaf" and insensitive to sounds transmitted in the air, and could only sense vibrations transmitted by solid materials such as the ground. It was not until last year that an Australian research team discovered that some species of snakes can at least hear sounds below 600 Hz.

"Adding ears to a snake" is not acceptable, but "adding feet to a snake" is acceptable.

In 2003, paleontologists discovered the fossil of a prehistoric snake in Patagonia, Argentina. Named Najash rionegrina, it had a pair of fully developed hind limbs and was the first snake discovered to have a sacrum, a bone that supports the pelvis and hind limbs.

Artistic Restoration of the Black River Sacred Snake｜Jorge Gonzalez

This discovery proves that snakes with long legs once really existed. In the long process of evolution, in order to survive, snakes gradually lost their limbs and even became "aliens" with loose skull joints.

A snake with horns? Yes.

Snakes with "long ears" do not exist, but if we talk about snakes with horns , there are many.

The horned viper (Cerastes cerastes) is a typical example of a viper with horns on its head. It has a pair of horn-like protrusions formed by scales above its eyes . This species is distributed in deserts and semi-deserts in North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. It often needs to hide in the sand to ambush prey. Some people speculate that these horn-like protrusions help them keep sand out of their eyes when they are hiding; others believe that these horns can blur the outline of the head and prevent predators from discovering them.

However, not all horned vipers have horns. | Jwinius / Wikimedia Commons

Similarly, the horned viper (Bitis caudalis) distributed in southwestern Africa, the horned rattlesnake (Crotalus cerastes) distributed in the southwestern United States and Mexico, and the lancehead pit viper (Protobothrops cornutus) native to Vietnam and Guangdong Province in China all have such horn-like protrusions above their eyes.

Snakebite | Johan Marais / African snakebite institute

The rhinoceros and nasicornis, which are of the same genus as the horned viper , also have a pair of horn-like protrusions formed by scales, but their protrusions are located at the tip of the nose , making them look somewhat similar to rhinoceros horns.

Rhinoceros | Holger Krisp / Wikimedia Commons

The pit viper (Deinagkistrodon acutus), commonly known as the "five-step snake", also has a horn on the tip of its nose, but not a pair, but only one . Similarly, the sharp-beaked snake (Gonyosoma boulengeri) native to southern China and northern Vietnam, the sand viper (Vipera ammodytes) distributed in southern Europe and the Middle East, and the leaf snake (Langaha madagascariensis) living in the woods of Madagascar, all have horns on the tip of their noses formed by skin and scales, so many of them are commonly known as "unicorn snakes" and "rhinoceros snakes" abroad.

Leaf Snake | Alextelford / Wikimedia Commons

This majestic red snake in Nanjing, Jiangsu, not only has horns on its head, but the horns are also forked like deer antlers, which makes it look majestic and a bit like a dragon. In the real world, although such large "snake horns" cannot be found yet, forked horns do exist .

Left: Laomendong, Nanjing, Jiangsu; Right: MixC, Handan | Xiaohongshu: @Godot; @Handan MixC

In Vietnam and Laos, there is a venomous snake of the genus P. sieversorum. Like its close relative P. sieversorum mentioned above, it has a horn-like protrusion formed by scales above its eyes. This horn-like protrusion is also divided into three forks , hence the name P. sieversorum.

In addition, the horn viper (Atheris ceratophora) native to Kenya, Africa, some members of the genus Bothriechis distributed in the tropical rainforests of Central and South America, and the spider-tailed horn viper (Pseudocerastes urarachnoides) distributed only in western Iran also have such forked horn-like protrusions above their eyes.

Hornbeam Viper | John Lyakurwa / Wikimedia Commons

Ever-changing scales

Some designers may be worried that the snake's scales are too monotonous, so they decorate the mascot with beautiful petals and feathers. Unfortunately, this idea is not realistic in nature.

The snake on Quanzhou West Street on the left is beautiful, but it’s a bit too embarrassing for the snake; the exploded scales of the snake on the right in Hangzhou, Zhejiang can be traced back to the original | Xiaohongshu: @鲤咸; @不开心快看看我

Snake scales are formed by the wrinkles of the stratum corneum of the epidermis. To some extent, the keratin scales on the surface of living reptiles and the feathers on the surface of existing birds are evolutionarily homologous . But this does not mean that snakes can grow real feathers on their bodies, let alone plant petals.

However, many snakes have skin and body scales with strange and specialized structures, which are comparable to the colorful feathers on birds. For example, the scales on the back of the body (called body scales in snakes) and the head (called head scales in snakes) of the Kivu tree viper (Atheris hispida) in Central Africa are sharp, slender and strongly ridged, which looks like a coat of fluffy hair or feathers , so it is also known as the "hairy tree viper".

Xenopeltis , native to southern China and Southeast Asia, can present a colorful black color , which can be said to be a snake that can satisfy the client. Their body scales have a special structure, and the scales can reflect obvious iridescence in the sun, resulting in beautiful rainbow-like colors. Other snakes with rainbow skin colors include the American Loxocemus bicolor from Central America, the Simalia boeleni and the white-lipped python from New Guinea.

Xenopeltis unicolor | ian_dugdale / inaturalist.org

Some snakes may not look that cool, but their unique skin structure is their winning weapon. Members of the genus Acrochordus live in water all their lives and feed on fish. Their scales are as rough as sandpaper, which allows them to tightly "grasp" smooth fish by wrapping around them when hunting.

Acrochordus arafurae | Smacdonald / Wikimedia Commons

The arrow-nosed water snake (Erpeton tentaculatum) from Southeast Asia has a trick up its sleeve: it has two "whiskers" made of skin derivatives on its snout, just like the legendary dragon whiskers. These two whiskers not only act as bait to attract careless small fish, but also can sense weak vibrations in the water. Even in turbid and dark water, the arrow-nosed water snake can accurately lock the target's position and kill with one blow. This also gave the arrow-nosed water snake the common name of "fishing snake".

Arrow-nosed water snake | BBC Wildlife Magazine

The rubber boa constrictor (Calabaria reinhardtii) living in west-central Africa wears a built-in stab-proof vest . They feed on rodent and shrew cubs, and when they burrow into caves to hunt, they will inevitably encounter fierce resistance from adult animals. Therefore, they have evolved collagen-rich skin that is about 15 times thicker than other snakes of similar size to protect against the sharp teeth of the other party.

Rubber boa | Ltshears / Wikimedia Commons

The most amazing one is the spider-tailed viper mentioned above. Not only do they have forked horns on their heads, but the skin and scales at the end of their tails are also specialized to form a "bait" that looks like a spider . When hunting, the spider-tailed viper will use the protective color of its body surface to hide itself in stones and sand, while keeping the "bait" at the tip of its tail in front of its eyes and swinging it continuously. When a hungry bird mistakenly thinks it is a spider crawling on the ground and flies down to eat it, it becomes the prey of the spider-tailed viper.

Many snake species, including the Bothrops in Central and South America, the Bitis arietans in Africa, the Acanthophis in Australia and New Guinea, and China's famous rare snake Protobothrops mangshanensis, also have the habit of using the "bait" at the end of their tails to lure prey.

In the eyes of many people, snakes are very dangerous and frightening animals. However, the existence of wild snakes is crucial to the balance of the ecosystem and the survival and development of human beings : they can control the population of field rodents (commonly known as various "rats"), and are also prey to larger predators such as raptors, mustelids, monitors, etc.; some chemicals extracted from snake venom also have great medical value and have been used in several drugs for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases with quite good therapeutic effects.

Our fear of snakes often comes from prejudice and misunderstanding. As the Year of the Snake approaches, we might as well try to let go of unnecessary fear, truly begin to know and understand them , and try to learn to coexist with snakes on this beautiful blue planet for a long time.

So, if you look at a snake chart without the sliding warning now, would you feel better?

Give it a try

Sharp-beaked snake | Tim Vickers / Wikimedia Commons

Natural Collection

The Year of the Snake is approaching, and these mysterious and frightening animals are finally taking the stage. Have you ever had close contact with a snake? What are some unique memories related to snakes and the Year of the Snake? Have you ever taken a photo of a strange, interesting, or beautiful snake (or snake image)? Or have you collected an item with a snake element?

Author: Black-scaled cockscomb snake

Editor: Mai Mai