uncleMAC, why do they call them "cottonmouth's?"

[MAC]

well first of all, timmy

http://www.cox-internet.com/meshboy/images/cottonmouth/cottonmouth04.JPG

but if you don't get it

http://www.cox-internet.com/meshboy/images/cottonmouth/cottonmouth05.JPG

MAYBE you still don't get it...

http://www.cox-internet.com/meshboy/images/cottonmouth/cottonmouth06.JPG

Now do you know why, timmy?

BTW: I was barefoot when I took these pics this morning.

[Mudflap]

Who the hell is Timmy?

[MAC]

don't be a smart ass mudflap...he's some kid who thinks his mom is my sister or sumthin....
but since you wanna be all contray I'll just leave sumthin in the yard for you to step on...

[MAC]

BTW:

UNLIKE Jeff Corwin...my animals are NOT planted by professional herpers.

so join us next week for
<center>Mutual of OhMyGawd's WildMac Kingdom</center>

[Billyman]

Dear Mr. Mac @Mutual of OhMyGawd's WildMac Kingdom,

Why is it that when you take a snake by it's tail and swing it overhead in a really fast swirly motion as to chunk it somewhere, it feels like it's stretching and coming apart just before the release?

[MAC]

dear mr gonna-get-bit-swinging-snakes-around

If I grabbed you by the feet and swung you around you'd notice a strange re-alignment in your spine too.
Consider first that the snake's body is designed to be muscular on a horizontal plane and not on a vertical one. Our bodies are oriented to stand up most of the time. A snake is designed to be on his belly. Now if you've ever looked at a spinal chord on any skeleton you will notice it is lots of small bones that butt up end to end and are seperated by a smooth softer piece of tissue called cartilage. This allows the bones to move against one another without abrasing their surfaces. The muscles attach to small bumps on the vertebra called processes and on the ribs.
They pull, one against the other, to move the spine side to side. This gives the snake locomotion. Incase you didn't know the electrical impulses that cause muscle cells to contract operate in an all-or-nothing sequence. Either the muscle cells contract or they do not. the groups of muscles on either side of the vertebra operate in opposition of one another, so the muscles between two vertebra on the left side contracts and the two in opposition on the right side relaxe. This is done in a cascading manner from one end to the other (normally front to back) not unlike 10,000 drunking college football fans doing the wave at a homecoming game. Now as the contraction/relaxation passes one area of the snakes body he actually lifts it slightly off the ground to allow it to slide over the surface as the part behind it is contracting. Vola! Locomotion. All base on a spinal column and extensive collections of small muscle groups working to create a hirozontal sine wave of motion.
This design is easily over come with the centrifugal forces of swinging.
Why?
In their normal motion one vertebra is only responsible for the body mass around it. As you swing the snake its mass multiplys the further you get from the axis. Well as I just described the snakes musculature does not allow for it to remain contracted on both sides, nor does its normal locomotion lend itself to it. It simply cannot hold its spine together by applyign muscular pressure on both sides. Besides the fact that each vertebra is rooted on the one previous.
besides...most snakes operate almost totally on their inner ear..can you imagine hwo dizzy they must get....

now go find a cat to swing instead of a snake, their bodys are much better suited to handel axial accelration. Worst that could happen is a slightly shorter tail. (grab them real close to the butt)

your friend and guy-who-wouldn't-bullshit-you

-MAC-

[Billyman]

Originally posted by theMAC
*snip*

:p

[Mudflap]

Originally posted by theMAC
don't be a smart ass mudflap...he's some kid who thinks his mom is my sister or sumthin....
but since you wanna be all contray I'll just leave sumthin in the yard for you to step on...

*pic of harmless lil' snake*

I'll see your wee widdle viper and raise you one...

http://www.btinternet.com/~stuart.melvin/Zim/ZimAttr/ZimAttrVic/mongoose.jpg