Scientists Again Debating How Snakes Came to Slither

New York Times ^ | 25 April 2006 | CARL ZIMMER

[PatrickHenry]

Charles Darwin was fascinated by snakes — in particular, by the tiny hip and leg bones nestled inside boa constrictors and other species. They were some of the most striking cases of evolution's imprint. Snakes descended from walking ancestors, and as they adapted to slithering, their legs dwindled to a few vestiges.

It took more than a century after Darwin's death for paleontologists to find fossils of snakes with legs. In the last decade, they have found four species. The fourth, known as Najash rionegrini, was unveiled in the April 20 issue of the journal Nature, and it has reignited a debate about how snakes lost their legs.

[snip, as required by the NYT]

Dr. Zaher has added fresh fuel to this debate with his report on Najash rionegrini, of which he was a co-author with Sebastián Apesteguia of the Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences. Dr. Apesteguia discovered the 90-million-year-old fossil in 2003 in the Río Negro region of Argentina. The name Najash is the Hebrew word for the snake of the Garden of Eden. After finding the fossil, Dr. Apesteguia invited Dr. Zaher to help him study its anatomy.

"From the first moment, it was obvious to me that it was important snake," Dr. Zaher said.

[snip, as required by the NYT]

Dr. Zaher notes that Najash lived on land, a fact he says casts doubt on the ocean origin of snakes. Losing legs may instead have been an adaptation in early snakes for burrowing after prey.

[yet another snip]

[Vaquero]

Ok, but first bring me a Shrubbery.

[Vaquero]

fresh out of the cooler.

[gopheraj]

Couldn't find shoes to fit to keep the stickers from poking their little feeties. :)

[MineralMan]

"Lizards have eye-lids. Snakes don't.
"

That's correct. There are also lizards without legs...several species, in fact. The ones I used to find in California were quite pretty, as well, with nice yellow underbellies. They'd blink their little lizard eyes when you caught them, and were tough little buggers, who would try to bite you with their little mouths that would open about 1/8".

Lots of people call these legless lizards "glass snakes" for their ability to shed a wiggling tail in the mouth of a predator and make their escape, but they're lizards.

[Richard Kimball]

Cause they don't know the words? Oh, I'm sorry. That's why hummingbirds hum.

[SteveMcKing]

I am much more baffled by the Oarfish and its evolution:

[capt. norm]

Scientists Again Debating How Snakes Came to Slither

Easy...just find out how Al Gore does it.

[ASA Vet]

This hoax version of the photo sells very well in NE Thailand.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Obviously they had them removed to look more stylish in the fall fashions.

(That's what my daughters say.)

[LIConFem]

A poll conducted among 12 snake species revealed that 98% of the legless reptiles couldn't possibly care less how they got that way.

[ZULU]

I think they should study Democrats to discover how snakes learned to slither.

[ZULU]

I think that was a teleological explanation of why snakes crawl. Obviously, it wasn't a scientific one.

In the very same book of Genesis, I believe, it states that Satan took the form of a serpent. The "tempter" was Satan in the form of a snake. It wasn't a snake per se.

[ZULU]

If what you are saying is correct, when the world was created, God created all living things at the same time.

So at one time there were T. rexes, modern men, Australopithecuses, modern lions, ground sloths, extinct giant salamanders, etc. all living together.

The geological record and fossil record do not reflect this.

But you are approaching this entire subject from an entirely different perspective than a scientific one. You are approaching it from a faith-based perspective, based on your interpretation of scripture.

But someone else can read the same Scripture, look at the same scientific claims and come to a completely different conclusion.

As someone who believe sin the Bible, the God of the Bible and also believes in Evolution, it has always escaped me why this issue is of such obvious importance to some believers.

I think, from a Christian perspective, the most important message in the Bible is not whether evolution occurred, not whether snakes were created with no legs, but the fact that man sinned, God punished him, God sent His Son as Redeemer, Christ died for us, and we consequently have an opportunity to be saved.

The rest is interesting but peripheral to the main message.

[uglybiker]

Ask Ted or Chuckie Schumer,Jessie,Rangel ...

Correction. Those are slugs. Not snakes.

;-)

[Ditter]

Wasn't it also decreed by God that woman would hate snakes? I killed 2 of the creepy things in my yard last week. Just doing what God decreed. ha ha!

[andysandmikesmom]

I am in agreement with your post #53...I feel the same way...yet there are those who would say, that our very salvation depends on this matter of evolution...that if we do not believe in the literal 24hr day, the literal 6, 24hr days of creation, which had to have happened just 6000 yrs ago, we are calling God a liar...that if we do not believe in Genesis in that particular way, then we will not believe anything else in the Bible, and all this adds up to the fact that we are damned...I see this, as reducing the matter of salvation to nothing more than a numbers game...

I am in agreement with you here, especially with your very last sentence...
"The rest is interesting but peripheral to the main message."

[andysandmikesmom]

I also absolutely hate snakes...luckily I live in the Pacific Northwest, and we dont have any poisonous snakes here, so thats of some comfort to me, when digging around in the garden...

[CarolinaGuitarman]

"I also absolutely hate snakes..."

You're not alone...

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Ditter]

There are plenty of poisonous snakes in Texas, even a couple in my yard. The 2 I killed last week were not poisonous but I don't care, if a snake wants to stay alive, they better stay out of my yard. All of you snake lovers out there don't preach to me about the good they do, I don't care. The only good snake is a dead snake!