Why ,when you cut off a snakes head, does the body keep moving, they say until the sun goes down?

Question

This is a local, saying that i can neither prove or disprove, that a snake will keep moving after you kill it until the sun goes down , is there some science behind this belief.

Answer 1

Reptiles don't quite recognize when they're dead. Just because the brain is no longer attached to the rest of the body and the heart's not beating, their slow metabolism allows the nerves to react long past the time the animal is "dead". Snakes will continue to flop around after their head is severed (and the head is still capable of delivering a bite... best not to mess with the decaptitated head of a venomous snake), and this is just the beginning... at alligator farms (remember, alligator farms are around so that wild alligators don't have to worry about poaching) typically the gators are "harvested", bled and refrigerated for 24 hours before being skinned, it's embarrassing enough being bitten by a live gator... dead one even more so. A lot of people I know who eat turtle will put the carcass in a walk in cooler or on ice for about 24 hours or so as well just so it doesn't try to walk away without it's head while they're trying to take it apart.

I don't think the sun going down has anything to do with it... it's just that death sometimes doesn't seem to matter to a reptile carcass.

Answer 2

I don't know about the body, but the head can still bite for several hours.

Answer 3

hmm...i'm not sure but my father in law cut a snakes head off one time...i can email him and see if he knows.  i do remember him saying that the heads are still active for a while.  i emailed him...it might be tomorrow before he gets back to me though...he doesnt check email every day.

OK he emailed me back and said that yes the bodies do remain active as he put it "for some time" he didnt say exactly how long though.

Answer 4

no i doubt that and it keeps movinjg because the nerves.