{"id":79182,"date":"2020-10-01T01:45:47","date_gmt":"2020-09-30T22:45:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/this-snake-disembowels-prey-to-eat-live-organs-a-first-for-science\/"},"modified":"2020-10-01T01:45:47","modified_gmt":"2020-09-30T22:45:47","slug":"this-snake-disembowels-prey-to-eat-live-organs-a-first-for-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/this-snake-disembowels-prey-to-eat-live-organs-a-first-for-science\/","title":{"rendered":"#This snake disembowels prey to eat live organs: ‘A first for science’"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#This snake disembowels prey to eat live organs: ‘A first for science<\/a>’<\/strong>”
\n<\/p>\n

\n Even for the animal world, this is pretty savage.<\/p>\n

The vast majority of snakes consume prey whole, but a group of stunned scientists have found that one species gets its meals in a much more brutal fashion: by gutting living toads with their teeth and then diving headfirst into the body to eat the internal organs.<\/p>\n

In a study<\/a> titled \u201cEviscerated Alive: Novel and Macabre Feeding Strategy in Oligodon Fasciolatus<\/em>,\u201d a group of four researchers from Denmark and Thailand reveal that the species \u2014 also known as the small-banded kukri snake \u2014 has developed an incredibly metal way of dining.<\/p>\n

The study, published this month in the journal Herpetozoa, establishes \u201ca first for science,\u201d lead author Henrik Brings\u00f8e writes in a blog post<\/a> about his findings.<\/p>\n

The feeding behavior of the kukri \u2014 common in Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam \u2014 \u201cdiffers from anything ever described in snakes,\u201d Brings\u00f8e writes. The serpent uses its teeth \u201cto cut open the abdomen of large poisonous toads, then inserts its entire head into the cavity to pull out and eat the organs one by one, while the prey is still alive!\u201d<\/p>\n

Researchers managed to film the kukri in action once in August 2016 and twice this year, in April and June. \u201cDuring those macabre attacks, we managed to capture on camera three times, the toads struggled vigorously to escape and avoid being eviscerated alive, but, on all occasions, this was in vain,\u201d writes Brings\u00f8e.<\/p>\n

The toad-on-snake battles could last for a few hours, the scientist said, \u201cdepending on the organs the snake would pull out first.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The toads being demolished by the snakes are of a common species called the Asian black-spotted toad, known for secreting a \u201cpotent toxin\u201d from glands across their neck and back. In one graphic photo from the researchers\u2019 recordings, the snake\u2019s body is visibly entering and exiting the toad\u2019s as it releases its poison, which app<\/a>ears like a white liquid.<\/p>\n

While the snakes general<\/a>ly employed their gut-and-nosh method, researchers are aware of one case where a kukri ate a toad whole \u2014 but it was a child, meaning its poison was possibly not as potent.<\/p>\n

\u201cCould it be that the snakes have adopted this sophisticated and gory approach to avoid being poisoned?\u201d Brings\u00f8e asks in his post, before acknowledging that he and his team do not know.<\/p>\n

He concludes his post on a reassuring note, though.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps you\u2019d be pleased to know that kukri snakes are, thankfully, harmless to humans,\u201d he writes.\n <\/p><\/div>\n

\n

For forums sites go to Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

If you want to read more News<\/a> articles, you can visit our News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#This snake disembowels prey to eat live organs: ‘A first for science’” Even for the animal world, this is pretty savage. The vast majority of snakes consume prey whole, but a group of stunned scientists have found that one species gets its meals in a much more brutal fashion: by gutting living toads with their…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":79183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/09\/snake-feasting-1.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[73611,71595,73121,67907,71659],"class_list":["post-79182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-9-30-20","tag-animals","tag-reptiles","tag-science","tag-snakes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}