Perfectly legless

摘要

You'd think an animal that's essentially a tail with a mouth might be at a disadvantage in a world of walkers and runners. But what a tail, what a mouth, Rob Pilley explains how snakes became such supreme predators. Contrary to popular belief, modernreptiles didn't descend from the dinosaurs All the reptiles, dinosaurs included, shared a common ancestor about 280 million year s ago and then began to split into different groups. There were the tortoises and tin ties -which were much the same then asthey are now, living slow, safe lives inside their carapaces. There was the dinosaur group, which capitalised on sharp teeth and occasionally great size, and whose only surviving representatives are the crocodilians - again, much the same then as now. New Zealand's tuataras were in a group of their own, and seem not to have changed at all.