![]() ![]() "The paper clearly documents behavioral differences, and future studies on muscle physiology may be especially insightful." (See " Pictures: How a Python Can Swallow a Crocodile.")įor instance, even though the study species had similar muscle mass, how individual muscles perform in both types of snakes may vary, Herrel says. However, the scientists shouldn't completely discount muscle performance in the king snake's abilities, notes Anthony Herrel, a biologist at the Natural History Museum in Paris, France, in an email. Its grip also comes with a superior technique: Its coil forms a tight spool, while the rat snake's grip is more of a loose knot. The need to kill reptiles, then, may have triggered the king snake to evolve its stronger squeeze. Reptiles on the Menuĭisrupting the heart and its blood flow is how scientists think constrictors kill prey, which replaces an older theory that they suffocated their victims.Ĭold-blooded animals such as reptiles, which make up more than a quarter of the king snake's diet, don't need as much oxygen flowing in their veins as warm-blooded mammals, allowing them to withstand constricting pressures longer, Penning says. "That means if you were to encounter the pressures these king snakes exert, your heart would fail to pump blood-that's how strong this is," Penning says. On average, king snakes squeeze with a pressure of 180 mm Hg, higher than the upper range of healthy blood pressure in a human, which is 120 mm Hg. Unauthorized use is prohibited.Ĭompared with previous measurements of other snakes, such as pythons, the data so far suggests king snakes are, pound for pound, the strongest constrictors in the world, Penning says. The surprise came when the scientists measured constriction strength. All the snakes pulled with the same force, according to the study, published this week in the Journal of Experimental Biology. The researchers stretched out 98 live snakes, strapped them down, and measured how strongly they pulled back. It isn't that the rat snake is too weak to escape, either. King snakes and rat snakes often fight in the wild, a striking scene Penning describes as "two balls of muscle, wrapped up together like two knotted pieces of spaghetti." ( Watch First-Ever Video of Python Swallowing Hyena.)īut the king snake doesn't simply out-muscle its foe: After analyzing 36 dead specimens, the researchers discovered king snakes and rat snakes of the same age have similar muscle mass. Snakeįor the new study, Penning and Brad Moon, a biologist at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, examined dozens of live and dead specimens of various kingsnake and rat snake species native to North America. Now scientists have figured out how king snakes can accomplish this unusual feat. A 4-foot-long (1.2-meter-long) king snake meets its match against a tiny curve-billed thrasher. ![]()
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