Also, seeing live baby snakes coming out of a female's vent might lead to the misinterpretation that the young had been swallowed and passed completely through the digestive tract. In the case of alligators, two aspects of their behavior could have lent themselves to the myth. Mother alligators will sometimes transport their young from the nest to water in their mouths, though they never swallow the little pups. One of the main reasons alligators remain with their young for a period of time post-hatching is to protect them from other alligators. Earthquakes are caused by parts of the earth's crust slipping past other bits of crust, at areas called faults.
Geologists can measure an earthquake on various scales of intensity and magnitude.
Earthquakes are usually measured by magnitude. The most famous magnitude scale is the Richter scale, which measures the amplitude of the vibration, corrected for distance from source. Like the Richter scale, Mw is a logarithmic scale, and it usually yields a number close to the Richter measurement. However, Mw gives a much more accurate description of the fault area over which the slippage took place, and thus gives a better descriptor of the energy released. This is why initial reports of an earthquake's magnitude are updated as more information comes in.