18/03/2022
🍀🐍 If snakes are cold-blooded, how do they stay warm? All snakes are ectothermic, which means they rely on the temperature of their surrounding environment to maintain their body temperature. . .
☀️ To warm up, a snake may position part of its body in a sunny spot to soak in the rays. They are careful to conceal most of their body, though, since sitting out in the open can make them vulnerable to predators. . .
🥚 Some snakes—especially many python species—have the ability to produce heat endothermically. Pythons incubate their eggs by coiling around them. By contracting their muscles quickly (it looks like a twitch), they can raise and lower their own body temperature. The more they twitch, the more heat they generate. Python parents use the heat pits in their face to check the temperature of their eggs, like an internal thermometer, so they can determine whether to twitch more or less! . .
📸 Green tree python at the Reptile Discovery Center!