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The western hook-nosed snake, a small snake endemic (đặc hữu, địa phương) to the deserts (sa mạc) of the United States and Mexico, is famous (nổi tiếng) for the shape of its snout (mồm) and for farting (đánh rắm) to confuse (gây nhầm lẫn) its enemies (kẻ thù).

Cobras (rắn hổ mang) and rattlesnakes (rắn chuông) have their deadly venom (nọc độc chết người), constrictors like pythons (trăn) and Boa have their strong musculature (hệ thống cơ), but the western hook-nosed snake doesn’t have either, so it relies on a more unusual defense mechanism – farting. When threatened, it emits (phát ra, bốc ra, tỏa ra) rumbling (tiếng ầm ầm, đùng đùng) air bubbles from the cloaca (lỗ huyệt; nơi ô uế, ổ trụy lạc) – the common opening for excretion (chất bài tiết) at a snake’s rear end. Known and cloacal popping or defensive (phòng thủ) flatulence (sự đầy hơi), this strange means of defense is designed to confuse predators (thú săn mồi) long enough for the snakes to escape.

Bruce Young, an experimental morphologist at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, told Discover Magazine that western hook-nosed snakes produce their characteristic farts by using two sets of muscles to isolate a compressed pocket of air and then contract the cloacal sphincter (cơ thắt, cơ vòng) to forcefully expel it.

The farting sound produced by these small snakes can travel up to 6’6 ft., it’s only about two-tenths of a second long, and is usually repetitive. While not the noisiest farts by human standards – although they tend to produce a higher pitch – to other animals they can be quite confusing.

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