Credit: Scott Mollett via Storyful
Graphic video warning!
"Scott Mollett caught this cottonmouth snake in his garden and was shocked to find it still in fighting form after decapitation."
We shouldn't have to say this, but please don't decapitate snakes (or any animal for that matter). If you see a dangerous animal on your property, call the proper authorities such as a 'creature control' company and have the animal removed. In the meantime, stay calm, and don't approach the creature. Remember, it's likely to be more afraid of you than you are of it.
But what is actually happening in this video? Because the snake is a cold-blooded critter, it means that the body of the decapitated animal can still writhe around even after it had its head brutally removed. While warm-blooded animals like us have a high metabolism, and thus use up oxygen in our blood rapidly, the snakes metabolism is much slower, meaning that for minutes, or even hours after death their neurons can still fire, and muscles contract.
