fandomhigh | Cross Species Communications - Monday (Snakes on the Syllabus!)

Good little students who reviewed the ~~handwavy~~ now regularly but still mysteriously delivered packets might expect to see a snake as this week's guest speaker. However, as the students enter they will notice Mary Poppins standing next to the biggest snake they possibly have ever seen. The front third of its body is standing upright, tall enough to be looking Mary Poppins in the eye and conversing with her.

It appears to be a cobra, those who are very familiar with snakes will recognize it as a King Cobra, also known as a Hamadryad.

Students who already speak Parseltongue and who listen into the conversation hear the two of them making plans to meet at the Zoo the next time Mary's birthday is on a full moon.

Once all the students are settled Mary and the Hamadryad both turn to gaze at the class. It is possibly a little off putting how alike those gazes are.

"I would like you all to meet my cousin. I'll thank you to be extra polite today." she says giving Schrodinger the eye if he's anywhere visable.

The Hamadryad bows his head to the class.

"Snakes,

(from Old English snaca, and ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European base *snag- or *sneg-, "to crawl"), also known as ophidians, are cold-blooded legless reptiles closely related to lizards, which share the order Squamata. There are also several species of legless lizard which superficially resemble snakes, but are not otherwise related to them. A love of snakes is called ophiophilia, a fear of snakes is called ophidiophobia. A specialist in snakes is an ophiologist.

An old synonym for snake is serpent (which comes from Old French, and ultimately from *serp-,"to creep"); in modern usage this usually refers to a mythic or symbolic snake.

While snake visionis unremarkable (generally being best in arboreal species and worst inburrowing species), it is able to detect movement. Some snakes, likethe Asian vine snake, have binocular vision.In most snakes, the lens moves back and forth within the eyeball tofocus. In addition to their eyes, some snakes (pit vipers, pythons, andsome boas) have infrared-sensitive receptors in deep grooves between the nostril and eye which allow them to "see" the radiated heat.

A snake smells by using its forked tongue to collect airborne particles then passing them to the Jacobson's organ or the Vomeronasal organ in the mouthfor examination. The fork in the tongue gives the snake a sort ofdirectional sense of smell. The part of the body which is in directcontact with the surface of the ground is very sensitive to vibration,thus a snake is able to sense other animals approaching.

Snakes have no external ears, but they do have a bone called the quadrate under the skin on either side of the head which focuses sound into the cochlea.[2] Their sense of hearing is most sensitive to frequencies around 200–300 Hz." Mary explained pointing these things out on the Hamadryad where applicable.

"As a result Parseltongue is possibly the one of the most subtle languages known, even more so then many languages specifically developed by man to be so. The sounds that you are making to communicate with the snake may not be heard, but the expelling of breath can be tasted by the snake and the vibrations of the sounds felt. It is a rare case that the language is spoken by two parties that perceive it differently. And yet are able to understand eachother with little or no difficulty.

In some parts of the world, especially in India and Pakistan, snake charmingis a roadside show performed by a charmer. In this, the snake charmer carries a basket that contains a snake which he seemingly charms by playing tunes from his flute-like musical instrument, to which thesnake responds. However, snakes' sense of hearing is not very sensitiveto the range of the charmer's instrument, so they may not be able to hear the music at all. Researchers have pointed out that many of the sesnake charmers are good sleight-of-hand artists. The snake moves corresponding to the flute movement and the vibrations from the tapping of the charmer's foot which is not noticed by the public.

So do keep in mind that when you speak Parseltongue to a snake, they are not hearing you in the traditional sense."

[[ooc: ~~Please wait for OCD~~ OPEN!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

//Small furry animals without claws?//

//So sort of like you guys but with fur coats?// Willow asked.

//Yes. They could have legs even. Just... No claws.//

//Maybe my Bio class could come up with something,// Willow said.

//Really? That would be delicious.//

//We talked about making new things,// Willow said. //It could happen.//

//I would be very interested to hear how that goes.//

//Maybe it could be a Science Fair project,// Willow said.

//I'm sure Mary Poppins would be happy to help me come visit again for your fair.//

//What do you do when you're not helping classes?// Willow asked.

//I mostly live in a place where your kind collects different kinds of animals together to learn about them.//

//A zoo?// Willow asked.

//That would be the place yes.//

//Do you like it there?//

//It is warm and they feed me goats. I like it well enough.//

Willow's eyebrows shot up. //Whole goats? Wow! You must be very good at doing that thing with your jaw ~~not dirty omg~~.//

//Small goats yes.// The snake nodded. //They kill the goat before bringing it to me, then the stick it in my habitat and poke it with a stick to make it move to "make me think it's alive"... It is rather adorable.//

//So you've got some hobbies.//

//If letting humans think they can fool me by poking a dead goat with a stick is a hobby, then yes.//

//Computers are nice,// Willow offered. //You wouldn't need hands to type or use the mouse. Well it's helpful but not a requirement.//

//I am more inclined to eat mice then use them with a human machine. Though I hear they are very warm when they have been running for some time.//

//They can be a good subtle heating pad sometimes,// Willow said with a conspiratorial wink. //Nobody needs to know you're using it for the warmth.//

//The last time I tried to use one as such, it was rather obvious the reason I was there I think. Though there was much commotion as the humans stood there trying to figure out how to take it from me, or if they wanted to do so.//

//True.// Willow looked regretful. //It's a shame you have to deal with that kind of prejudice. There should be no reason why you couldn't use a computer if you wanted to.//

//Well, I really just wanted to be warm.//

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