slygecko
04-04-2007, 06:37 PM
Passing on some posts from my Herpetology TA Dan Rabosky:
Herp students:
Nate Kley has a number of fascinating blindsnake feeding videos available
on his website. You can view them at:
http://gibbon.anat.sunysb.edu/kleylab/videos.html
Note the differences in feeding mechanics between leptotyphlopid and
typhlopid blindsnakes: leptotyphlopids use bilateral, synchronous
mandibular raking (you can see this in the video), and typhlopids use
somewhat asynchronous maxillary raking. Both mechanisms differ
considerably from those seen in the Alethinophidia. (How does this differ
from prey-transport mechanisms seen in other snakes???)
From the looks of things, there is no gluttony like that of a blindsnake
feeding on ant pupae...
~Dan
Here's an interesting evolutionary innovation in snake feeding: two species
of homalapsine colubrid snakes from southeast Asia feed on crabs that are
too large to swallow whole...so the snakes eat freshly moulted crabs that
they can tear into more palatable chunks. As far as I know, these are the
only snakes that do this.
The article can be found on the nature website at:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v418/n6894/full/418143a.html
(in Nature 418, 11 July 2002)
and a feeding video can be found at:
http://bioweb.ad.uc.edu/faculty/jayne/videos/gerarda_feed2.mpg
Abstract:
Herpetology: Snake circumvents constraints on prey size
Instead of swallowing a victim whole, crab-eating snakes tear off
bite-sized pieces.
For animals who are unable to take bites out of their food, the size of the
food item that can be consumed is constrained by the maximal size of the
mouth opening (gape) - snakes are an example of gape-limited predators and
they usually swallow their prey whole1, 2. Here we describe unique feeding
behaviours in two closely related species of snake, which circumvent their
gape limitation by removing and consuming pieces from newly moulted crabs
that are too large to be swallowed intact. This evolutionary innovation is
surprising, as the needle-like teeth and highly mobile bones that
facilitate the capture and engulfment of large, whole prey by snakes are
ill-suited both to cutting and to generating large bite forces.
~Dan
Awesome stuff! Those blind snakes are vacuum cleaners!
Cheers,
Nick
Herp students:
Nate Kley has a number of fascinating blindsnake feeding videos available
on his website. You can view them at:
http://gibbon.anat.sunysb.edu/kleylab/videos.html
Note the differences in feeding mechanics between leptotyphlopid and
typhlopid blindsnakes: leptotyphlopids use bilateral, synchronous
mandibular raking (you can see this in the video), and typhlopids use
somewhat asynchronous maxillary raking. Both mechanisms differ
considerably from those seen in the Alethinophidia. (How does this differ
from prey-transport mechanisms seen in other snakes???)
From the looks of things, there is no gluttony like that of a blindsnake
feeding on ant pupae...
~Dan
Here's an interesting evolutionary innovation in snake feeding: two species
of homalapsine colubrid snakes from southeast Asia feed on crabs that are
too large to swallow whole...so the snakes eat freshly moulted crabs that
they can tear into more palatable chunks. As far as I know, these are the
only snakes that do this.
The article can be found on the nature website at:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v418/n6894/full/418143a.html
(in Nature 418, 11 July 2002)
and a feeding video can be found at:
http://bioweb.ad.uc.edu/faculty/jayne/videos/gerarda_feed2.mpg
Abstract:
Herpetology: Snake circumvents constraints on prey size
Instead of swallowing a victim whole, crab-eating snakes tear off
bite-sized pieces.
For animals who are unable to take bites out of their food, the size of the
food item that can be consumed is constrained by the maximal size of the
mouth opening (gape) - snakes are an example of gape-limited predators and
they usually swallow their prey whole1, 2. Here we describe unique feeding
behaviours in two closely related species of snake, which circumvent their
gape limitation by removing and consuming pieces from newly moulted crabs
that are too large to be swallowed intact. This evolutionary innovation is
surprising, as the needle-like teeth and highly mobile bones that
facilitate the capture and engulfment of large, whole prey by snakes are
ill-suited both to cutting and to generating large bite forces.
~Dan
Awesome stuff! Those blind snakes are vacuum cleaners!
Cheers,
Nick