User:JonRichfield/Hood (zoology)
Hood is a term for a structure that some animals display in a process called hooding. It is most notorious in some species of snakes, mainly those known as cobras.
The hood itself is the result of the flattening of several flexible ribs near the animal's head. Though often perceived as a prelude to an offensive strike at a prey animal and considered characteristic of the cobras as a group of snakes, the hood is in fact a defense mechanism intended to make the animal appear momentarily larger than it actually is and to therefore perhaps deter a would-be attacker. It serves no other known biological purpose, and is not used in any context other than as a defense, though it may be coupled with a defensive strike at the snake's would-be predator and if the strike is successful, poison may be injected. Whether or not the strike succeeds, the snake's only intention is to then escape its attacker.
Aspidelaps Erythrolamprus Heterodon Hydrodynastes Naja (including Boulengerina ) Thamnodynastes Xenodon
Chlamydosaurus
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Micrurus fulvius none
Hood display
