Post by LadyViper on Sept 6, 2007 17:10:56 GMT -6
www.livescience.com/mysteries/070228_snake_bytes.html
Click on this link to watch the videos
How Does a Snake Swallow a Larger Snake?
How the common king snake can ingest other snakes that equal or exceed its own length was long a mystery. But scientists now think they know some of the reptile's super-sizing tricks.
Snake jaws, by the way, are unlike those of other animals in their ability to open wide to swallow big fat things, too.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Strange Snake Stories
Python Eats Gator, Explodes
Man Pulls 7-Foot Python From Toilet
Python Eats Pet Cat
Kate Jackson of the University of Toronto and colleagues used an array of video and still images to get a play-by-play look at king snakes (Lampropeltis getulas) as they devoured corn snakes (Elaphe guttata) that were at least as long.
1. After the king snake constricted and subdued its prey, it began the exhaustive “transport cycle,” to get the slithering snack into its belly. Called a pterygoid walk, the king snake opened up its jaw and alternately ratcheted toothy parts of its upper jaw over the surface of the prey, in turn “walking” its mouth over and around the prey.
Video: Snake Capture
2. To help pull in its prey, the king snake compressed its own vertebral column into a series of concertina-like waves that shortened and lengthened its body.
Video: Snake Swallow
3. The king snake forced the prey’s vertebral column to bend into waves and compress as if an accordion. Even with eyes bigger than its stomach, the king snake could package its meal to ensure a perfect fit inside its gastrointestinal tract.
Video: Snake Stomach
4. With all that work, most of the king snakes regurgitated partially digested prey. Just one snake-snacker completely digested its prey, a feat that took 15 days!
Video: Snake Regurgitation
Click on this link to watch the videos
How Does a Snake Swallow a Larger Snake?
How the common king snake can ingest other snakes that equal or exceed its own length was long a mystery. But scientists now think they know some of the reptile's super-sizing tricks.
Snake jaws, by the way, are unlike those of other animals in their ability to open wide to swallow big fat things, too.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Strange Snake Stories
Python Eats Gator, Explodes
Man Pulls 7-Foot Python From Toilet
Python Eats Pet Cat
Kate Jackson of the University of Toronto and colleagues used an array of video and still images to get a play-by-play look at king snakes (Lampropeltis getulas) as they devoured corn snakes (Elaphe guttata) that were at least as long.
1. After the king snake constricted and subdued its prey, it began the exhaustive “transport cycle,” to get the slithering snack into its belly. Called a pterygoid walk, the king snake opened up its jaw and alternately ratcheted toothy parts of its upper jaw over the surface of the prey, in turn “walking” its mouth over and around the prey.
Video: Snake Capture
2. To help pull in its prey, the king snake compressed its own vertebral column into a series of concertina-like waves that shortened and lengthened its body.
Video: Snake Swallow
3. The king snake forced the prey’s vertebral column to bend into waves and compress as if an accordion. Even with eyes bigger than its stomach, the king snake could package its meal to ensure a perfect fit inside its gastrointestinal tract.
Video: Snake Stomach
4. With all that work, most of the king snakes regurgitated partially digested prey. Just one snake-snacker completely digested its prey, a feat that took 15 days!
Video: Snake Regurgitation
