Inspecting A Snake Skin

As I followed my family to the van this morning for church, I glanced over into the grass and found a completely   intact snake skin. Knowing how much my husband and girls like to inspect things, I called them back and convinced Bruce to lay the skin by our door so we could look at it later.

Then, once we got home from church, the girls immediately asked for the snake skin. It was really neat to look closely at the skin and think about the snake. And while I couldn't get a clear picture, we could even see where the snakes eyes and jaw had been, that's how cool the shed skin was.

Our initial inspection and noticing the neat features of the snake, such as the diamond pattern on its back and the curved lines on the belly.

Pointing out the distinct features of the snake's face.

Finally, we had to figure out how long the snake is. This particular snake was probably close to 3 1/2 feet long, which makes it even more remarkable that the skin came off so cleanly. I am hoping that Bruce will be able to show Charlotte some of the skin underneath our microscope.

I tried to find a video to show the girls so they could see how the snake actually sheds its skin. This is the best one I could find, and even this snake doesn't have such a clean shed.

This experience is a reminder to me that our education doesn't end when we finish our formal schooling. Even I have never seen a snake skin so close-up. It is also a good reminder that education can happen any where, any time. We don't need to have a book in front of us to learn more about how the world works. In fact, I am certain that reading about this in a book, or looking at pictures, couldn't be nearly as cool as finding our own skin to inspect at home.

Comments

  1. That is awesome!! Life is school!

    ReplyDelete
  2. We have a black snake that has taken up residence right outside Haleigh's bedroom window in a trellis. Haleigh has named her Midnight and we love to watch her and she usually leaves a nice "shed" for us :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for commenting! Be sure to leave an email address in your profile or in your comment if you'd like a reply.

Popular posts from this blog

Win Free Cereal

Note to Self

Yoplait Kids