![]() ![]() Most snakes have a single, narrow lung that runs through their body. What they did - The researchers recruited several captive boa constrictors and measured their lung and rib functions in different scenarios, taking X-rays of the snakes’ bodies to get an inside look at their movements.Īn X-ray video shows the snake expanding and contracting part of its ribcage to breathe, while the other part stays stationary. So Capano wanted to explore how snakes deal with so much pressure on their lungs, an adaptation that may have been evolutionarily necessary for them to become successful hunters and consumers of large prey. Performing either of these feats makes it tough for boas to expand their rib cages in order to breathe. You’re completely full to the gills, literally.” “And then when you kill something really big, you fill yourself up in this immense way. “In order to constrict something, you have to utilize your body, and then that becomes disengaged for other behaviors in order to crush something to death,” Capano says. For boas, their ability to constrict prey and open their jaws extremely wide to swallow allowed them to hunt even larger animals and adapt to new environments.īut those skills came with trade-offs. The success of snakes can be attributed to certain key traits developed over millions of years of evolution. “It’s just insane that they're everywhere.” “They live in the water, they live on land, they live underground, they can climb trees, they can glide to some extent and kind of be aerial,” says John Capano, an organismal biologist and co-author of the new study. Today, there are more than 3,000 snake species on the planet, and they’re found on every continent except Antarctica. Reptiles alone have evolved from having lizard-shaped bodies, with four legs and a tail, to snake-like bodies at least 26 separate instances across the evolutionary tree.Ī boa constrictor hangs from a tree. ![]() Here’s the background - The elongated, legless form of a snake is extremely common in the animal kingdom. It’s a skill that may have evolved in tandem with its other predatory traits, allowing it to eat a wide variety of meals. Researchers writing Thursday in the Journal of Experimental Biology set out to uncover how they can devour animals whole without suffocating. It turns out boas don’t have to hold their breath in order to swallow a big meal. But snakes, like any animal with lungs, need to expand their ribcage to breathe - and scientists weren’t sure how they managed to keep air flowing when digesting dinner. Once in the stomach, the snake’s meal is side-by-side with vital organs like the lungs. Though the snakes typically snack on small mammals, lizards, and birds, they don’t shy away from hunting larger prey.Ī large boa can devour entire pigs and monkeys, stretching its body around an undigested carcass with ease. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |