Shedding their cold-blooded image, snakes emerge from a recent study as more caring creatures that protect their nests and remain with their young for a brief period after hatching.
The study of the nesting behavior of the southern African python, published this month in the London-based Journal of Zoology, is the first-ever report of maternal care of babies in an egg-laying snake.
Based on seven years fieldwork, Graham Alexander of Johannesburg's University of the Witwatersrand found female pythons went around seven months without eating, from the time they mated until after the hatching of their clutch.