Why can snakes swallow animals several times larger than themselves

People often use the phrase "the heart is not enough to swallow the elephant" as a metaphor for those who are inadequate and insatiable. Can a snake really swallow an elephant? This is obviously impossible.

However, it is not uncommon for snakes to swallow sheep, deer, piglets and calves. Why is it said that snakes are able to swallow animals several times larger than their own head whole? The reason is that snakes are very sensitive to each bone joint related to feeding, especially the joints between the mandible and the skull are very relaxed.

The left and right sides of the jaw are also different from other animals in that they are not closely connected, but are connected by the relaxation of the ligaments. Thus, the snake's mouth can be opened to 130 (the human mouth can only be opened to about 30), and the two halves of the jaw can be extended to the left and right together, or to one side alone or alternately. Whenever a snake bites food, the maxilla, palate, pterygoid and mandible can alternately pull the food backwards, and the upper and lower mandibles can also wrap the food forward.

At the same time, because snakes have sternum and ribcages, their gastrointestinal muscles are so strong that they can swallow animals several times the size of their own heads. In general, the larger the food, the greater the effort it takes for the snake to swallow it. Small foods usually only take one to two minutes to swallow, but larger foods sometimes take an hour or more.

Whenever food is swallowed into the esophagus, the snake's body wall will gradually expand, because the body wall muscles contract sequentially, and the food will quickly enter the stomach. Snakes have a very strong ability to digest, except for bird feathers and animal hair, which cannot be digested, everything else can be digested, and even bones will not be left.

The snake can be separated from the top and bottom, and he doesn't have to separate when he eats small things, and when he encounters a large food, he separates them and eats it, but I think I've seen snakes spit out indigestible things.

It's called eating when you want! You don't see snakes hibernating! People won't!Don't eat more and hibernate without starving it! ~~

Yes, you know, and I asked, just because the snake's mouth is very special!

Snakes are amazing creatures that are able to swallow animals much larger than their own size, a phenomenon that is amazing. Know the lead.

Why, then, is a snake able to swallow an animal larger than itself?

First of all, snakes have a body structure that favors them for devouring large animals.

The body of the snake is made up of many segments, each of which can be moved so that they can twist the large agitator into a smaller shape that is easy to swallow.

In addition, snakes have muscles that can contract so that they can twist large animals into smaller shapes, making them easier to swallow.

Secondly, the mouth structure of snakes also helps them to devour large animals.

The mouth of the snake has a special structure that allows it to twist large animals into smaller shapes, making it easier to swallow.

In addition, the snake's mouth has a special gland that secretes a special fluid that relaxes the muscles of large animals and makes them easier to swallow.

Finally, the digestive system of snakes also helps them to devour large animals.

The snake's digestive system can break down the food of large animals to obtain nutrients.

In addition, the snake's digestive system can also break down the food of large animals into smaller pieces, making it easier to swallow.

In conclusion, snakes are able to swallow animals larger than themselves, mainly because their body structure, mouth structure, and digestive system are conducive to them to swallow large animals.

This ability of snakes is amazing, and it makes my companions appreciate their magic even more.

There are two main reasons:

1. Before swallowing larger food, the snake will squeeze the food into long strips by winding, so that it is easy to swallow;

2. The left and right halves of the snake's mandible are not healed, but are loosely connected together by straps, and the jaw, pterygoid bone, square bone and squamous bone form active joints with each other, so the snake's mouth can be opened very large, up to 130 degrees angle, and can swallow several times larger than it.

1. This is because there is a special structure in the body of the snake.

2. Our people's mouths can only be opened to an angle of 30 degrees, but the mouth of a snake can be opened to an angle of 130 degrees, or even 180 degrees. The reason for this is that the bones of our mouths are connected by "tenons", but snakes are connected to each other by ligaments. Let's do an experiment:

The tongs used by people when cooking rice are not easy to open because they are inlaid with tenons; If you divide the tongs into two pieces and tie a rubber band to the place where the tenon was originally inlaid, it will be able to open freely. The snake's mouth can be opened very wide, and this is also true. Moreover, the snake has processed the animal before devouring the large animal, and when it wraps around its prey, it tightens it as it wraps until the prey suffocates to death, and then it squeezes the prey into long strips for easy swallowing.

3. When a snake swallows a large animal, will the trachea be blocked? No, it won't. Because the opening of the larynx is in front of the floor of the mouth, which is also where the opening of the trachea is. When a snake devours its prey, its movable larynx extends out of its mouth so that it does not have to worry about its trachea being blocked.

The main reasons why snakes can swallow prey larger than themselves are as follows:

1.The skeletal structure of snakes allows them to easily swallow prey larger than their own heads. The head of the snake has two pairs of bones, one for the jaw and the other for the palate, and the sliding knots between these bones allow the snake to open its mouth to accommodate the larger prey.

2.The internal structure of the snake's mouth also helps them to swallow large prey better. The snake's teeth are hooked, which is able to grip and hold the prey firmly so that it does not slip out of the snake's mouth.

In addition, the snake's tongue is a very flexible organ that helps the snake move and adjust the position of its prey inside the mouth.

3.The body structure of snakes allows them to digest large prey. The snake's digestive system is very flexible and adaptable, allowing it to accommodate larger foods. In addition, snakes have very strong stomach acid, which quickly dissolves the bones and muscles of their prey, thus helping to digest large prey.

In conclusion, the reason why snakes are able to swallow prey larger than themselves is mainly due to the special adaptation of their head bone structure, the internal structure of the mouth, and the digestive system.