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National Geographic Kids Chapters: Scrapes With Snakes: True Stories of Adventures With Animals
Brady Barr
National Geographic Kids
Kathleen Zoehfeld Weidner
Join National Geographic expert and TV personality Brady Barr on some wild adventures with snakes! Readers won't believe their eyes as they read Barr's hilarious—and completely true!—accounts of his interactions with some of the biggest, weirdest, and craziest snakes on Earth.Filled with engaging photos, fast facts, and fascinating sidebars, readers won't want to put this book down.
Copyright © 2015 National
Geographic Society
All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission from the publisher is prohibited.
Published by theNational Geographic Society
Gary E. Knell, President and Chief Executive Officer
John M. Fahey, Chairman of the Board
Declan Moore, Executive Vice President; President, Publishing and Travel
Melina Gerosa Bellows, Publisher and Chief Creative Officer, Books, Kids, and Family
Prepared by the Book Division
Hector Sierra, Senior Vice President and General Manager
Nancy Laties Feresten, Senior Vice President, Kids Publishing and Media
Jennifer Emmett, Vice President, Editorial Director, Kids Books
Eva Absher-Schantz, Design Director, Kids Publishing and Media
Jay Sumner, Director of Photography, Kids Publishing
R. Gary Colbert, Production Director
Jennifer A. Thornton, Director of Managing Editorial
Staff for This Book
Shelby Alinsky, Project Editor
Hillary Leo, Photo Editor
Callie Broaddus, Art Director
Ruth Ann Thompson, Designer
Grace Hill, Associate Managing Editor
Michael O’Connor, Production Editor
Marfé Ferguson Delano, Editor
Paige Towler, Editorial Assistant
Erica Holsclaw, Special Project Assistant
Allie Allen and Sanjida Rashid, Design Production Assistants
Margaret Leist, Photo Assistant
Lewis R. Bassford, Production Manager
Susan Borke, Legal and Business Affairs
Production Services
Phillip L. Schlosser, Senior Vice President
Chris Brown, Vice President, NG Book Manufacturing
George Bounelis, Senior Production Manager
Nicole Elliott, Director of Production
Rachel Faulise, Manager
Robert L. Barr, Manager
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Trade paperback
ISBN: 978-1-4263-1914-3
Reinforced library edition
ISBN: 978-1-4263-1916-7
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4263-2224-2
v3.1
Version: 2017-07-11
Cover (#u0e364b15-be8a-5c0e-b4e2-98fb88fb4b30)
Title Page (#u0d023e15-6e56-5a94-964a-b93380a42cf2)
Copyright (#u9f7f416c-79e5-5c68-868e-c9052426b14f)
THE SNAKE THAT ATE COWS! (#ua9e4d892-c46a-52d5-9afc-c9e9d47e585d)
Chapter 1: Snake Problem! (#u1f8fc918-0158-58a9-98de-e24bfbcef741)
Chapter 2: Swamp Slog (#uc055a699-e240-5763-9c8f-a889bec96fc4)
Chapter 3: Wrestling a Giant (#u04069b6b-1c46-521a-919c-8c58e213c569)
ROBO-WEASEL (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 1: Not Going in There! (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 2: Fishing for Snakes (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 3: Rescuing Robo-Weasel! (#litres_trial_promo)
SNAKE ON A STRING (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 1: The Snake Palace (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 2: A Brilliant Plan (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 3: Follow That String! (#litres_trial_promo)
SOCK HEAD (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 1: Biggest of the Big (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 2: Find Them With Your Feet! (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 3: Photo Op! (#litres_trial_promo)
DON’T MISS! (#litres_trial_promo)
More Information (#litres_trial_promo)
Dedication (#litres_trial_promo)
Credits (#litres_trial_promo)
Acknowledgments (#litres_trial_promo)
That’s me, Brady Barr, with my friend Gerry Martin on the left. Together, we caught this giant Indian rock python.
When catching a snake this big, it’s always best to secure its head first. That’s the biting end!
I was waist-deep in water in a muddy swamp. I was trying not to think about the leeches that might be crawling up my legs. Then—I spotted it! Stretched out in front of me was the biggest snake I had ever seen. It looked as long as a bus!
What was I doing here? My name is Brady Barr. I’m a zoologist (sounds like zoh-AH-luh-gist), a scientist who studies animals. I’ve studied all kinds of animals all over the world. My favorites are reptiles—really big reptiles.
I’ve worked with some real giants. I’ve wrestled crocodiles over 18 feet (5.5 m) long. I’ve captured 10-foot (3-m)-long lizards and turtles the size of small cars.
But until that day in the swamp, I’d never come across a giant snake. Although they’re among the biggest reptiles on the planet, they’re very hard to find. And scientists know surprisingly little about them.
The swamp where I met the giant snake was in northern India. I was there with my friend Gerry Martin, a reptile expert. We had teamed up to study a rare and endangered crocodilian (sounds like krah-koh-DIL-ee-un). But our croc project soon took an unexpected turn.
(photo credit 1.1 (#litres_trial_promo))
Some snakes can swallow things three times the size of their own head! How do they do it? Snakes have really flexible jaws. Human jaws are attached to the skull like a door on hinges. All we can do is open and shut them. A snake’s lower jaw is not solidly attached at the chin, like ours is. Each side can move separately. A snake’s jawbone is attached to the skull by stretchy bands of tissue, almost like rubber bands. Using its curved teeth to grip its prey, the snake can slowly stretch out its jaws and move its mouth around its meal.
When Gerry and I got to the small village near our research site, none of the people wanted to talk about crocs. All they wanted to talk about were snakes. They said they had a big problem. Their cows were disappearing. And they believed a giant snake was eating them.
Did You Know?
InThe Jungle Book, by Rudyard Kipling, the giant, 100-year-old snake named Kaa is an Indian rock python.
Holy cow! I thought. A cow-eating snake?
This was a story we just had to look into. A snake large enough to eat a cow would have to be a true giant. We’d heard stories like this before. But no scientists had ever been able to check them out. Maybe this was our chance to prove those stories were true.
