User:Bokhan/Cranial kinesis

Article body

 * 3 phases of cranial movement during engagement with prey
 * prey height influences maxillary and quadrate bone displacement in the banded water snake
 * proposed media: an image of the lab specimen with its gape completely open

First Draft
- The section on snakes for the cranial kinesis page only consists of one sentence:

Snakes use highly kinetic joints to allow a huge gape; it is these highly kinetic joints that allow the wide gape and not the "unhinging" of joints, as many believe.

My proposed addition to the section following the sentence that is already present: Studies done in cottonmouth snakes suggest that the process of eating as it relates to movement of the cranial bones can be situated into three parts: hold, advance, and close. The phases document the ways in which the cranial bones shift according to the action being performed on the prey, specifically when the prey is passing through the gape. Similarly observed in the banded water snake, a prey's height acts on the maxillary and quadrate bones of the snake's skull by displacing them in a way that allows for the prey to enter the mouth more smoothly.