Joel Neely, aged 5 of Manchester, Tenn., for His question:

Why does a snake shed his skin?

Your skin is very stretchable. As your bones and muscles grow, the skin stretches to keep them covered. You do not have to shed your skin as you grow bigger.

A snake has a tough, paper‑thin skin over his real hide. It fits like an old fashioned all‑in‑one set of underwear. You know that your clothes do not grow with you. What's more, you need to freshen up with new ones once in a while. That is how the snake feels about his close‑fitting outer skin.

Once in a while he needs a bigger and fresher outer skin. Shedding his old skin is quite a problem to the snake. It begins to feel tight and uncomfortable. He grows a new one underneath and the old one dries out. He loosens the old skin by rubbing his mouth against a rock or rough grass. Then he wriggles out of it.

The new skin fits perfectly. What’s more, it is clean and neat. The colors of his coat shine through it, all clean and bright. Mr. Snake feels very spit and span after he has shed his old skin.