Lesser/Butter

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Originally Posted by bait4snake

hahaha, let me ask you this: if the modern theory of evolution and natural selection is correct, then how did cobras suddenly get a complex system of long teeth with tubes leading to a gland full of a self-producing enzyme that disolves blood or fries the nervous system of its prey? And if it this one snake did just APPEAR in a clutch one day, then how did this ONE "morph" become the dominant trait throughout the world? And what happened to all the venomless cobras out there when other venomless species like Ball Pythons didn't disappear?

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Well... if I recall from reading the rear-fanged snakes popped up around 15 million years ago, but there's nothing to suggest it was spontaneous evolution. I'd venture to guess something in the environment changed requiring quicker killing mechanisms.

It wasn't until five million years later that long front-fanged snakes (vipers) appeared. So I don't think they just "appeared" in a clutch one day. On the contrary, we are talking about millions of years of evolutionary change. But... the evolutionary record of snakes is shaky, so we don't really KNOW anything at this point. We'll have to wait until some myochondrial DNA samples are compared between the species to see just WHEN the venomous snakes started appearing... according to the fossil records, nonvenomous snakes had literally tens of millions of years to rule the roost :).

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So, personally, it really doesn't boggle my mind, lol. Maybe it just appeared by divine intervention for Ralph Davis to make a fortune! HAHA

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Well Ralph sure did manage to pick an amazing one... not only a beautiful snake on it's own, but pretty amazing genetics too :eek:. Although... by all appearances Ralph was doing pretty darn good for himself before the lesser.
:carrot: