The Beauty of Snakes

Snakes.

They inspire fear and loathing...

- -...fascination and awe.

To some cultures, they are pure evil.

Others worship them as gods.

The snake is a creature like no other --

a spellbinding seductress, a killing machine.

Now high-definition cameras

capture the breathtaking spectacle of snakes in action

like never before.

This is "The Beauty of Snakes."

Snakes are perhaps the most mesmerizing creatures on Earth.

Beneath a mosaic of shimmering scales,

their slim, supple bodies move with elegance.

They glide over the planet with speed and stealth.

Their sleek, powerful curves are dressed

in some of nature's most magnificent colors and patterns.

We will explore every aspect of their mysterious lives --

how they mate, give birth, hunt and feed,

move and sense the world around them --

all in startling detail.

Snakes live almost everywhere on the planet.

They thrive on land, in trees, and in water --

almost 3,000 different species.

And all of them natural-born killers.

From a newly hatched garter snake just 6 inches long

to the 30-foot anaconda, they all must kill to survive.

Their hunger satisfied, most snakes prefer peace and solitude

until it's time to mate.

Deep in the rain forest of Latin America,

the female rainbow boa is ready to breed.

But first, she needs to shed her skin.

Unlike most animals, snakes grow until they die.

Their skin does not grow with them.

Uncomfortable in a coat that has grown tight and dry,

the boa moves restlessly, trying to release her old skin.

It's a process she'll go through three or four times a year.

To ease shedding, snakes secrete a highly scented oil

between the old skin and the new one.

Still moist, the boa's scales glimmer and shine.

Here the clarity of high-definition video

shows how the rainbow boa got its name.

Each scale acts like a prism,

refracting light in a colorful glow.

But it is the smell of her new skin,

rather than the color, that will attract a mate.

Aroused by her scent, the male boa

follows the female's trail in the night air.

When he finally reaches her,

he coils around her and begins his seduction.

Garter snakes have one of the most dramatic mating rituals

in the world.

In eastern Canada, the female red-sided garter

emerges from six months of winter hibernation.

Soon after leaving her den, she emits a scent through her skin.

This potent perfume attracts the attention

of male garters up to 20 miles away.

One by one, they come.

The larger female is soon inundated with suitors

driven to frenzy by her smell.

In an hour, she is lost beneath a tangle

of over 100 squirming bodies known as a "mating ball."

Within the writhing mass, each of the males

pushes and shoves his rivals out of the way,

trying to be the first to mate with the female.

Only one of them will succeed.

The struggle can go on for a week.

After mating, the victorious male

inserts a plug inside the female,

preventing other males from breeding with her.

Eventually, the exhausted males unscramble themselves

and go their separate ways.

Three months later, the female will be ready to give birth.

This checkered garter snake is feeling restless,

and no wonder.

She is about to give birth to 30 wriggling babies.

Each tiny snake takes only seconds

to break through its transparent egg sac.

The babies must emerge quickly in order to breathe.

The entire brood is born within half an hour.

Then, mothering duties over, the newborns are on their own.

Only two of these babies will make it to maturity.

The rest will fall victim to predators,

starvation, and the elements.

To survive, they must hunt.

Tiny, curved teeth clamp onto prey like this earthworm

with a fierce grip.

Swallowed alive, the worm will die

from acids in the snake's stomach.

Barely 30 minutes old and already an instinctive killer.

Not all snakes have live births.

Most species lay eggs.

In the American Midwest,

the corn snake lives close to farmyards and crops,

where it feasts on a plentiful supply of rodents.

This female mated a week ago and has just laid eight eggs

in a nest of rotting leaves.

Parenting is now over.

She will not be back.

Three months later,

the unborn snakes twist and wriggle in their shells.

A tiny tooth on the end of their snouts

helps them slit an opening in the surface.

After breaking through, they often retreat

back into their shells for several hours' rest.

It may be two days before they leave the shell for good.

Slipping away from their nest,

the odds are stacked against the hatchlings.

Like all snakes, they will have to rely

on a powerful array of senses to survive.

Snakes sense the world differently from humans.

Eyes on either side of her head

gives this eyelash pit viper a wide field of vision.

Lashlike scales protect her eyes

from pointy branches in the dense rain forest.

Snakes have no eyelids.

It's impossible to know if they're sleeping

or just lying in wait.

The viper's unblinking stare may seem ominous,

but she has relatively poor vision.

Snakes are best at detecting motion.

They have difficulty focusing on still objects.

She can understand her world better by using her tongue.

Snakes use their tongues to smell.

When a snake wants to investigate its surroundings,

it flicks its tongue, collecting scent particles from the air.

This tiny instrument is 10,000 times more sensitive

than the human nose.

Forked tongues allow snakes to smell in stereo,

picking up different scents from different directions.

As this mouse moves,

it leaves behind a trail of scent particles.

As scent particles are collected,

the snake presses the tips of its tongue

into an organ in the roof of its mouth.

There particles are identified and analyzed,

translating the matrix of smells into a precise image.

This allows the snake to pinpoint the location

and size of its prey, even in total darkness.

With such an extraordinary tracking device,

snakes rarely miss.

In the unforgiving desert of Arizona,

a Western diamondback rattlesnake

must use all his senses to survive.

This male has just emerged from winter hibernation

and has not eaten in five months.

But as a cold-blooded reptile, he needs to warm his body

in the sunshine before he'll have the energy to hunt.

A mouse would make a good meal.

The rattlesnake's hearing won't help him locate his target.

He has no external ear, nor any eardrums.

Like all snakes, he is deaf to airborne sounds.

But he can hear sounds that come through the ground.

His long, slack belly, in constant contact with the Earth,

picks up even the smallest vibrations.

When hunting, the snake adds this information

to the smells gathered by his flickering tongue.

As the mouse comes closer,

yet another extraordinary sense comes into play.

Certain snakes, like this rattler,

have deep pits beneath their eyes.

These pits are lined with heat-sensitive cells

that can detect a temperature change

as little as 271,000 of a degree Fahrenheit.

This thermal image represents what the snake senses.

Warm-blooded creatures make easy targets,

even on the darkest of nights.

Keep his distance, and the unsuspecting mouse is safe.

Step any closer,

and he'll be in striking range of a heat-seeking missile.

The strike is so quick that the mouse doesn't know what hit it.

Though the rattlesnake can draw on venom to kill 300 mice,

he injects just enough for a lethal dose.

Once the mouse has stopped moving,

the rattlesnake slowly swallows his meal.

It will take 15 minutes for the mouse, still emitting heat,

to disappear into the cold body of the snake.

It will take several days

for the snake to fully digest his meal.

Then he will be back on the move,

sliding over the rocky landscape with ease.

A snake in motion is a thing of wonder --

a limbless body surging with power and agility.

Without arms or legs,

snakes have adapted to a wider range of environments

than any other species on the planet.

The most common way for a snake to move

is the serpentine method,

in which the body follows a series of "S" curves.

The snake uses the lower back edges of its body

to push off against any roughness on the ground.

Viewed from beneath,

each belly scale is seen moving and sliding.

With up to 500 vertebrae in their spines,

snakes are the most flexible creatures in the world.

There are few obstacles they can't navigate,

few hiding places they can't wriggle into.

A camera mounted on the back of a Cape cobra

shows how the snake undulates through its domain.

It's a way of moving