Snake evolution
What did the first snakes look like? David Attenborough empties a flowerpot to reveal something that looks like an earthworm but is actually a flowerpot snake - completely blind because it spends all its life under ground. There is a surprising amount of food for a small snake underground. There is ant larvae, for example, which the snake swallows whole. Early snakes lived underground for millions of years but then, around 50 million years ago, some returned to the surface. By this time the dinosaurs had disappeared and the early mammals had arrived. As they were more nutritious than insects and worms, the snakes began to catch the mammals instead. Now snakes are some of the most skilful hunters on earth.
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