How Snakes shed their Skin

Somehow during our schooldays, we would have been taught that snakes shed their skin in order to grow. But I've never given it a thought on how snakes actually shed their skin. All along I assumed that the skin somehow peels off, like how sunburnt skin on our body drops off by itself when we bathe or rub on it. Sometimes I've even imagine it splitting down the belly and the skin comes off like a rectangular piece of skin.

It is only recently when I found out the truth. What happens is that a snake will show some symptoms before it actually sheds. The colour of the skin will turn slightly cloudy, the eyes will become opaque and the belly will turn pinkish. It would be really interesting if we are able to watch the whole process of snake shedding its skin.

What I've learnt is that the whole process happens real fast. The skin will start opening up from the mouth. All the snake needs to do is to slide out from the old 'shell' and leave the old unwanted skin behind. So what's left of a good shed is a complete 'cover' of the snake - which looks like an elongated bag.

One thing to note is that the snake sheds the skin of the eyes too. That's why the eyes turn opaque before the shedding time. For this too, I've always imagined that the skin will come off like a mask, where you can see two holes where the eyes are supposed to be.

Once I've learnt of this fact, something inside me went 'ting!'. Just like a light bulb lighted up brightly inside my mind. My assumptions all this time has been wrong and I've believed it all the way, thinking that I should be right and never bothered to seek the truth.

In life, we could also have been in the same situation - where we heard about something and without giving it a much deeper thought, we made some assumptions. These assumptions grew into a believe throughout the years and we never even bother to seek the real answers. This could be one of the reasons where rumours turn into a fact after some time.

This pattern can be seen in almost every aspect of life and the world, be it a mother scolding the child stupid, gossips among friends and even in politics - the leader of a country making certain negative statement about another country and the citizens of the country is made to believe that.

Most of the time, people are not aware that this is happening. It is so natural people just do it unconsciously, without realising that they are actually twisting the facts.

With this realisation, I hope those who reads this post will carry this awareness with them and consciously identify and seek the truth. Assumptions only ends up making an [ ASS U ME ] ass out of you and me. :)