Snake is the general name of footless reptiles, belonging to Reptilia, Squamata and snake suborder. Like all reptiles, snakes are covered with scales. All snakes are carnivorous animals. The snake ranks sixth in the Chinese zodiac. Why can a snake swallow something several times bigger than itself?
Why can snakes swallow things several times bigger than themselves
1. Snakes have no chewing function and can only be swallowed. Its jaw joint is quite special. Unlike our jaw joint, the upper and lower jaws are connected together. The upper and lower jaws of the snake are connected by ligaments, so the upper and lower jaws can be separated when swallowing prey, allowing prey thicker than itself to pass through the throat smoothly. And the skin of the neck also has great elasticity
2. The digestive system of snakes is very powerful. Some begin to digest while swallowing and spit out bones. The snake's digestion also depends on crawling on the ground, using its belly to rub against the uneven ground. The venom of poisonous snakes is actually the digestive juice of snakes. The digestive juice of some carnivorous snakes has strong digestion ability and dissolves the body of bitten animals, so it shows "toxicity". Human bile also belongs to this digestive juice. Snakes have a strong appetite and a large amount of food. They usually bite to death before swallowing. The mouth can change with the size of food. When encountering larger food, the lower jaw shortens and widens, becoming a film that tightly wraps the food. Snakes often swallow from the head of animals and birds from the top of the head. In this way, the beak bends to the bird's neck and will not stab the snake's mouth or esophagus. The swallowing speed is related to the size of food. Mice can swallow people in 5 ~ 6 minutes, while larger birds need 15 ~ 18 minutes.
Snakes hunt mainly with their mouths. Non toxic snakes usually bite their prey with sharp teeth on their upper and lower jaws, and then quickly wrap the live prey with their body or press it slender before swallowing. Poisonous snakes also rely on their fangs to inject strong venom to poison their prey immediately after being bitten. When swallowing, the snake first opens its mouth, holds the animal's head into the mouth, blocks the animal's body with its teeth, and then slowly swallows it by making left-right interactive movement with its mandible. When one side of the mandible rotates backward, the teeth on the same side hook the food and send it further to the pharynx. After the mandible on the other side rotates backward, the teeth on the same side send the food further to the pharynx. In this way, due to the continuous interaction and backward rotation of the mandible, even large food can be swallowed.