Are there snakes that eat snakes? Brief description. Enemies of poisonous snakes A snake that eats other snakes

Incredible facts

Snakes do not have ears, however, they have excellent vision.

They don't have a nose, but they are very good at detecting smells.

Fangs poisonous snakes are among the "most advanced biological weapons systems in the natural world."

Below are the most shocking and amazing abilities of these reptiles.

A snake can eat another snake that is longer than itself

To finally understand how a king snake can eat another snake that is longer than itself, Kate Jackson from the University of Toronto and her colleagues recorded video and observed the events unfold. King snake attacks the victim sharply, then squeezes its entire body like an accordion to let in the "food". Later, when the job is done, she spits out some of the undigested part of the lunch.

The snake eats its offspring

As scientists learned in February 2009, many mother rattlesnakes eat some of their unsurviving children. Snakes have something called "postpartum cannibalism," and in a study, mothers ate about 11 percent of their eggs and dead babies. Why? "This allows the rattlesnake to regain energy because it is too exhausted to forage for food, a dangerous activity that requires a lot of time and energy," said Kirk Setser, lead author of the study.

The snake can "fly" 50 feet

If the paradise tree snake wants to move from one tree to another, it literally flies to it without going down. It would be more accurate to say that it “slides” through the air. In order to fly to another tree, they either fall from the branch or push off strongly from it in order to actively glide over the height. In flight, they take an S-shape in order to stay in the air longer and get exactly where they need to go.

Pythons eat whole prey, including bones.

Adult pythons can live for months without food. But when they eat, they don't leave any waste behind. These snakes are adapted to suck calcium from the bones of their prey, making the food more nutritious. “Thus, they are physiologically prepared for a possibly long period of “fasting”, stocking up nutrients" says Jean-Herve Lignot, a specialist at Louis Pasteur University in France.

Cobras concentrate on your eyes

Cobra spitting is not actually spitting. This is a contraction of muscles that compress the gland that produces poison. With the help of this kind of “spit”, the cobra’s venom can be sprayed over a distance of up to 2 meters. If it gets in your eyes, the neurotoxins in the venom can blind you. Moreover, back in 2005, scientists discovered that cobras actually aim for the eyes. However, that's not all. Cobra venom, as a rule, is sprayed not as a stream, but as a spray in the form of a special geometric pattern, so it may well affect both of your eyes.

The smallest snake in the world fits on a coin

The smallest snake known to date was discovered in 2008 in Barbados. It is just under 10cm long and thin like spaghetti. "Some species of snakes are likely protected from the process of natural selection so that they do not become too small, below the established size, because otherwise they would not be able to obtain food to feed their offspring," says discoverer of the snake Leptotyphlops carlae Blair Hedges ( Blair Hedges, an evolutionary biologist at Pennsylvania State University.

Snakes can live for months without food and still grow!

Imagine being able to live for several months without eating, while burning fat, growing and feeling great! Marshall McCue and his colleagues from the University of Arkansas have not fed the 62 snakes living in their laboratory, including pythons, rattlesnakes, and some other species, for 6 months. The snakes have noticeably reduced their metabolism, some by 72 percent (!), in order to survive. Surprisingly, they became longer in the process of burning their fat reserves. "These animals take their energy consumption to a whole new level. new level" says Makku.

Poisonous snakes, along with non-poisonous reptiles, are eaten by many animals.

Here we see amazing examples of the defenselessness of snakes, possessing terrible poisonous weapons, which turn out to be ineffective in the fight against some creatures. Such enemies of snakes can be found among mammals, birds and, finally, among their own brothers - namely snakes. Let's start with the first ones. It is well known that the hedgehog is resistant to snake venom. A hedgehog, when faced with a viper, sniffs it from head to tail, not paying attention to the fact that it bites him in the face. He only licks the wounds he received with his tongue. Then, having improved the moment, the hedgehog with a quick movement grabs the viper’s head with its teeth, crushes it and begins to eat the snake killed in this way, without disassembling either the poisonous teeth or the poisonous glands. A hedgehog is not naturally susceptible to the action of viper venom, so its bites do not cause him any significant harm. The lethal amount of viper venom for a hedgehog is equal to forty doses of the same amount for guinea pig. Other mammals that eat snakes include weasels, martens, ferrets, and foxes. IN warm countries their sworn enemy are the so-called pharaoh mice or mongooses, which cope with such a dangerous enemy as the spectacled snake. When fighting between them, the snake often wraps itself around the mongoose’s body. Despite the advantage of the position of the snake coiled around the small body of the pharaoh mouse, this animal emerges victorious due to its extreme dexterity. He grabs the snake's head, destroys it with his teeth and then devours it. Mongooses, like hedgehogs, are insensitive to poison spectacled snake; they are killed only by an amount of poison that is 8 times greater lethal dose the same substance for a rabbit; The mongooses themselves are the size of martens.

Many of the birds hunt snakes and among them they also devour poisonous ones. The snake eagle, hawks, vultures, buzzards, storks and even crows exterminate these reptiles. The most dangerous bird for a snake is the secretary bird living in Africa. There is a bun on her head long feathers, giving the bird some resemblance to a clerk with a pen behind his ear, which explains the name “secretary” given to it. The gluttony of this bird can be judged by the fact that 3 snakes, 11 lizards, 21 small turtles were once removed from its crop, not counting the remains of insects. The secretary bird uses a special method of fighting snakes, which Brehm describes in this way from the words of one of the observers of this bird. “If the secretary has caught up with the snake, and if it begins to defend itself, hisses and terribly inflates its neck, then the bird opens one wing, covers its legs with it, like a shield, hits the snake attacking it with it, jumps back and forth, making the most strange leaps. The secretary repels the bite of a snake with one wing and thereby tires his evil enemy, with the bend of the other wing he hits the snake, stuns it, then sometimes with his beak he throws it into the air, bites through its skull, and finally swallows it, having previously torn it into pieces” (p. 765).

The secretary eats whole snakes with their poisonous teeth and glands. Probably, by nature, he is as little susceptible to the effects of snake venom as the Pharaoh's mouse. It should be noted that birds do not hunt exclusively for poisonous snakes, but destroy them along with other reptiles.

Now let's see if snakes have enemies among their own kind. What will happen if, for example, one viper bites another. The bitten person will not suffer any particularly noticeable damage, since viper venom does not affect vipers, just as the venom of a rattlesnake or cobra is harmless to them. However, the consequences will be different if a snake of one type bites a poisonous snake of another type. In this case, the poison is also valid for reptiles. For example, the Brazilian rattlesnake - Lachesis (up to 4 meters long, i.e. 6 arshins), lacking a rattlesnake, like our copperhead, devours other snakes, both poisonous and non-venomous; Likewise, snake-eaters are snake-eaters, called coral snakes because of the unusualness and beauty of their color. The venom of adders is also dangerous for other snakes.

However, neither the rattlesnake nor the adder can be man’s allies in the fight against poisonous snakes, since they themselves pose an extreme danger to him, which people have used... against people. In ancient times, asps were used in Egypt to execute criminals sentenced to death.

While observing the life, habits and morals of many snakes, a striking phenomenon was discovered - the ability of one American snake, which the natives call mussurana, to kill its poisonous fellows and then devour it. This nocturnal snake, usually has a body length of 1 1/2 meters (2 ars.), is found along the banks of rivers, streams, and near swamps. It is harmless, since it does not have a poisonous device, and is the sworn enemy of various poisonous snakes, of which there are so many in Brazil, where human death from snake bite is not a rare phenomenon at all.

If the mussurana is pitted against at least a rattlesnake, then both snakes curl into a ball, and the rattlesnake bites its opponent. However, its terrible poison, which quickly affects mammals, is invalid for mussurana; She is protected from it by nature and does not pay the slightest attention to the bites the rattlesnake inflicts on her. Meanwhile, she herself bites into his back with her teeth and, feeling the body of her enemy with a quickly moving tongue, intercepts parts of the body with her jaws closer and closer to the neck of the poisonous snake. When it reaches the last one, then, bending in an arc, it begins to twist the head of the rattlesnake and thus dislocates its cervical vertebrae, kneads the brain, and the head of the poisonous enemy hangs helplessly down, while the rest of its body still makes convulsive movements. Such a fight ends soon if the poisonous snake is small. The Mussuran fiddles with a strong opponent for a long time - sometimes 1 1/2 hours, until he can finally twist his head in the full sense of the word.

The mussurana always eats a dead snake, starting by swallowing it from the head. The tail of the dead victim, sticking out for a long time from its mouth, still makes convulsive movements. Mussurana devours without hesitation even snakes that exceed the length of her body by one and a half times. In this case, only half of the prey is swallowed, while the other half sticks out of the mouth until the first is digested.

What is the appetite of the mussurana and can it have a serious role as a reliable ally of man in the extermination of poisonous snakes? This question can only be answered based on direct observation of her life. In nature, it is rare, as it leads a hidden lifestyle. To study snakes in Brazil, a special institution arose in which a “snake garden” was set up - a place surrounded by a low stone fence, surrounded, in addition, by a ditch with water. Snakes are allowed into this garden and their lives and attitudes towards each other are observed.

Tests were made over the mussurana to determine the number of snakes it devoured. It turned out that in captivity, which snakes generally do not tolerate very well, she ate 81 poisonous snakes and 4 non-venomous ones in 3 1/2 years. Thus, quite unexpectedly, nature gave man, in the person of the mussurana, an employee to combat poisonous reptiles.

Their amazing property was noticed, and in the garden just mentioned, they are testing the breeding of these useful snakes, in order to later distribute them throughout the world. large quantities throughout Brazil, where snakes often bite people in coffee plantations if they work barefoot. Mussurana lays from 8 to 16 eggs and lies down on them herself to prevent the embryos developing inside them from drying out and dying. After 4-6 months, small snakes emerge and immediately try to hide somewhere under cover. Unfortunately, all attempts to raise young Mussurans and bring them to adulthood have not yet been crowned with success, since it was not possible to attack the kind of food that they would eat in captivity. The hatched snakes stubbornly refused everything that was offered to them and eventually died of hunger.

These amazing reptiles have always aroused both delight and fear in humans. It is simply impossible to be indifferent to snakes! School textbooks on zoology tell how they feed, reproduce, where they live and why they are dangerous to people. But there are many interesting facts related to snakes that not everyone knows. In our article you will find a selection of the most fascinating information about these representatives of the animal kingdom.

Snake physiology

What do you know about snakes, except that, unlike most animals, they do not have legs? Let's look at how these creatures work and get acquainted with some interesting facts.

• Snakes have a huge number of ribs - up to 250 pairs. The girdle of the upper limbs is absent, but the remains of the pelvis in some species are preserved, although not functional. Pythons even have tiny vestigial remains of legs. There are no snakes with front or back legs.

• Snakes' teeth grow throughout their lives.
• Molting also occurs throughout life.
• The internal organs are not located compactly, like in humans, but in a row one after another. The left lung is larger in all snakes, and in many species the right lung is completely absent.
• When prey is swallowed, the heart can become significantly displaced.
• All snakes have eyelids that are always closed. They are transparent films that do not interfere with vision. However, snakes' vision is not very good. But they can distinguish between warm objects, like a thermal imager.

Let us add that the opinions of scientists regarding the hearing of reptiles vary greatly. It is generally accepted that snakes are practically deaf, but some studies refute this theory.

Giants and babies

The reticulated python is considered the largest living snake. The green anaconda is not far behind him. Representatives of these species have a mass of about a hundredweight and a length of about ten meters.

The largest of all snakes living in the territory former USSR, is the viper. Maximum length representatives of this species - 2 m.

Let's look at a couple more interesting facts.

• Giant snakes include two more types of pythons: light tiger and dark tiger.
• A female dark tiger python named Baby, who grew up in a US zoo, is the heaviest living. This beauty weighs 183 kg (on average, representatives of the species weigh 75 kg).
• The light tiger python reaches a length of six meters, but does not pose a danger to any animal larger than a cat.
• The king cobra is also among the five largest.

The smallest is the Barbados narrow-mouthed snake. It does not grow even up to ten cm. Among the poisonous representatives of the class we can mention the dwarf viper, which can grow to a maximum of thirty centimeters.

Superkillers

When answering the question about the most dangerous reptile, many will mention the black mamba, because it is considered the most poisonous snake. Interesting fact: the color of this creature is not black, but grayish or brownish. There are many superstitions associated with this snake. Residents of the regions in which it lives never even say its name out loud, fearing that the insidious snake will hear and come to visit. The black mamba is also the fastest, because it can move at a speed of 20 km/h.

But the terrible mamba has an even more dangerous competitor - the taipan. He lives in Australia, has extremely aggressive behavior and an impressive length of several meters. The taipan's venom paralyzes the heart muscle and acts instantly. When you meet him, just run.

The Philippine Cobra is a professional sniper. She kills by spitting poison. Even a distance of 3 meters is not safe. But, like other cobras, the Philippine snake rarely attacks first. The traveler should carefully look at his feet so as not to step on it.

The ribbon krait lives in India, where it is called the shy snake. Kraits are not aggressive unless their offspring are disturbed. But the venom of one snake is enough to send a dozen people to the next world.

The amount of venom contained in the glands of one king cobra would be enough to kill twenty-three adults. There may simply not be time to administer an antidote. The bite of a king cobra is fatal even to an elephant. Usually a cobra kills because the cubs are in danger. Yes, yes, one of the most dangerous reptiles on the planet is a caring mother.

Among non-venomous snakes There are also natural born killers. Until recently, pythons were considered harmless to humans, but recent years V Southeast Asia Several cases of python attacks on people have already been recorded. Scientists believe that a python, which cannot chew and swallows food whole, is, as they say, too tough for a person (the pelvic bones of the victim will not fit into the predator’s mouth). But people of small build should not trust pythons.

Pseudo snake

Let's pay attention to one funny creature, which also looks very much like a snake, but is not one at all. In fact, this is a yellow-bellied lizard. In the process of evolution, limbs were lost as unnecessary.

Pay attention to the structure of the head. The yellowtail's eye has movable leathery eyelids. Predators take this lizard for a snake and do not touch it.

There is also an antipode to the yellow-bellied skink, which is called a snake with legs. But there was no sensation here, the skink is not a snake, it is also a lizard.

What's on the snake's menu?

Let's look at a few unusual facts, which relate to the nutrition of snakes.

• All snakes are predators.
• Most of them cannot chew and use their teeth only to grab and tear food into pieces.
• The digestion process can take up to several weeks. For example, a python eats only twice a month (those who decide to get an exotic pet should remember this).

• Some snakes are unable to feel full and may die from overeating.

Hell and heaven for those who are afraid of snakes

Australia and New Zealand...Fantastic countries at the ends of the earth. When planning a trip to those distant places, don't forget about snakes. Australia is home to 21 of the 25 most venomous snake species. But in neighboring New Zealand there are no snakes at all! The exceptions are two species of aquatic reptiles, which are harmless in water.

Or maybe you, on the contrary, love these reptiles and want to watch them in natural environment? Or would you like to tell children about interesting facts related to snakes? Well, there are also harmless reptiles in Australia. But you must go on an excursion accompanied by an experienced guide.

As a pet

Anyone planning to set up a terrarium at home needs to familiarize themselves with the most interesting facts in advance. Snakes have a number of characteristics, their keeping is not difficult, but a novice breeder needs to learn a lot.

Study the material about temperature and drinking conditions, read the feeding rules. Don't skimp on your snake house equipment. Be sure to find out in advance whether your locality a veterinarian who works with reptiles. With proper housing arrangement and compliance with all necessary standards, a snake can live in captivity even longer than in nature. This beautiful creature can become not only a delight for the eyes, but also a true friend. Of course, if the owner is caring, kind and sincerely loves snakes.

Enemies of snakes significantly reduce their population. What animals eat snakes You will find out in this article.

Who eats snakes from animals?

Snakes appear to be powerful, poisonous animals that create fear in others. But there are brave souls who eat them. This:

• birds of prey
• mongooses,
• crocodiles,
• wild pigs and boars,
• representatives of the cat family,
• monitor lizards
• other animals (depending on the habitat of a particular individual).

It is a well-known fact that hedgehogs are resistant to snake venom. Having met a viper, the hedgehog sniffs it from head to tail, despite the fact that the snake bites him. He simply licks the resulting wounds with his tongue. Then it clings to the viper and begins to eat it. The hedgehog's body is not exposed to the snake's venom, so its bites do not cause any harm to it. Other animals that eat snakes are martens, weasels, foxes and ferrets. In countries with warm climate The enemies of the hissing creatures are mongooses. They can even cope with a spectacled snake.

Who eats bird snakes?

Snakes are eaten by birds of prey - falcon, hawk, stork, peacock, etc.

Many birds hunt snakes, including poisonous ones. These include the snake eagle, hawk, vulture, buzzard, stork and even a crow. The most dangerous enemy among birds for snakes is the secretary bird, which lives in Africa. It eats the crawling creature completely, along with its poisonous glands and teeth.

Snakes, the characteristics of which are given in the framework of this article, are all, without exception, predators in nature. You will not find a single herbivorous species among them. The menu of these reptiles is quite varied: they feed on almost everything that moves. But even among snakes there are gourmets who prefer... other snakes! You heard right: snakes eating snakes is not an exception, but a pattern.

Who are snakes?

Snakes are usually called a peculiar group of animals representing the class of reptiles, or reptiles. They are represented by one single order - Scaly. They are all predators. However, among the huge variety of these animals, there are both harmless and cute creatures, and creatures that pose a serious danger to other animals and, of course, people.

Where do snakes live?

Snakes that feed on snakes, as well as all their other species, have been found by humans on almost all continents. The exceptions are Antarctica, some large (New Zealand, Ireland) and small islands Atlantic Ocean and central part Pacific Ocean. Currently, more than 3,000 species of all kinds of snakes live on our planet. Of these, about a quarter are poisonous. By the way, they are all united into 14 families.

Why do they need poison?

As we noted above, presented a large number species rather than poisonous ones. However, one should not write off snakes as dangerous to humans. As the name implies, venomous reptiles use a certain toxic substance- I. They need it primarily for hunting this or that victim, and not for self-defense, as is commonly believed. The poison of some of them is so toxic that it can easily kill a person. That's why snakes in nature are real creeping deadly weapons!

Snake skin

As a rule, the entire body of a snake is covered with skin or scales. There is a very important point to make here. Contrary to popular belief, the skin of these creatures is absolutely dry, and not slimy and moist, as is popularly believed. Perhaps such confusion arose due to the conditional similarity of snakes with slippery and wet earthworms.

The vast majority of snakes have a specific skin structure on their belly. They need this for better grip on the surface on which they crawl. Some people believe that these reptiles do not have eyelids. This is wrong. They are there, but not like many animals. The eyelids of snakes are represented by transparent scales and are always closed.

Are there white snakes?

They exist. But not as an independent species, but as genetically unique individuals. In other words, white snake- This is the most common albino. The most famous are Californian albinos. Scientists say that they may soon occupy about 70% of the total inhabited territory in the Canary Islands.

The white snake is a rather rare specimen in nature. It can be found in any of these reptile families - from the harmless grass snake to the king cobra! These albinos should not be confused with albinos, since the latter have completely different body colors.

What do snakes eat?

As we noted above, snakes in nature feed on almost everything that moves. They professionally hunt frogs, rats, shrews, mouse-like rodents, grasshoppers, birds, antelopes, wild boars, crocodiles, etc. When the snake begins to swallow the victim, it spreads the so-called branches of the lower jaw quite widely. If the prey is large, the reptile can swallow it within an hour.

For example, large snakes anaconda, water boa constrictor) first strangles its victim using the rings of its body, and only then swallows it whole and gradually. One of the most favorite delicacies of these reptiles are bird eggs. Small snakes, on the contrary, do not use strangulation techniques, much less wait for their prey to die. They eat small vertebrates and invertebrates while they are still alive.

It’s not for nothing that they say that any snake has its exceptions. Although they eat everything, some of them are very picky about what they eat. For example, the North American green snake eats only spiders, caterpillars, fish and birds. This creature would never touch mice or lizards for anything in the world. And small water snakes eat only frogs and fish, but terrestrial mammals They prefer not to touch it at all.

Snakes eating snakes

The most famous cannibal is the most dangerous among all snakes - the king cobra. Her diet besides small mammals and amphibians also consist of their own relatives. King Cobra enjoys feasting on smaller snakes. She first kills the victim with poison or by strangulation, after which she swallows it.

Not long ago, scientists discovered another fact of cannibalism among snakes, in particular rattlesnakes. The fact is that these creatures eat their own offspring. Scientists believe that this phenomenon cannot be attributed to pathology and should not be considered as infanticide, because they feed exclusively on dead cubs. That is, some rattlesnakes are not only cannibals, but also scavengers.

Many people do not believe that cannibal snakes exist in nature. However, there is so much that doesn’t exist in nature! Snakes eating snakes is not uncommon or even an exception. This is a pattern. If, for example, lizards can eat their young, then why can’t snakes eat their own relatives? Even someone well known to all of us can, on occasion, feast on... a viper! This is natural selection.