Snakes are carnivorous reptiles. The skeleton of most snakes consists solely of the skull with a solid and complete braincase. The skin of a snake is covered in scales. Moulting occurs periodically throughout a snake's life. Snakes use smell to track their prey. Cobras and vipers use venom to immobilize or kill their prey. All snakes are strictly carnivorous, eating small animals including lizards, other snakes, small mammals, birds, eggs, fish, snails or insects. In some cultures snakes are a delicacy, prized for the alleged pharmaceutical effect of being beneficial for the heart.

The various forms of art have played a very important part in the history of mankind. Britannica Online defines art as “the use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects, environments or experiences that can be shared with others”. Thus, works of art have existed for thousands of years, since man first learned to use his hands to make things. The development of the numerous different branches of what we consider to be art, among them film, music, literature, sculpture, photography and painting, has been incredible. Over the centuries, people have been fascinated by the creation of art in all its forms and the importance of art in our lives can not be overestimated.

Antique objects are collected by millions of people worldwide and many people possess an object that belongs to a bygone age. Some objects of art are extremely rare or collectible and can be worth many millions of pounds.

Many stamp collectors and postal history collectors collect cancellations in addition to the stamps themselves. A cancellation is a mark applied on a postage stamp or postal stationery to deface the stamp and prevent its re-use. Cancellations come in a huge variety of designs, shapes, sizes and colours. The terms "postal marking" and "cancellation" are used to refer specifically to the part that contains the date and posting location. The portion of a cancellation that is designed to deface the stamp and does not contain writing is also called the "obliteration" or “killer”. Some stamps are issued pre-cancelled with a printed or stamped cancellation. Cancellations can affect the value of stamps to collectors, positively or negatively. After the first adhesive postage stamp, the Penny Black, was issued in 1840 by Great Britain, the postal authorities realized they needed to find a method for preventing reuse of the stamps and thus issued hand stamps to apply cancellations to stamps on envelopes as they passed through the postal system. In other countries, and where hand stamps were not available, stamps often were cancelled by marking over the stamp with a pen. Pen cancellations were used in the United States into the 1880s, and even today, if a postal clerk notices a stamp has escaped cancellation he marks it with a pen or marker. High speed cancellation machines were first used in Boston, U.S.A. between 1880–1890.