How Do Snakes Hunt?
A marvelous animal, snake, can hunt prey which size is more than one hundred times than it. According to some research, a snake can even easily consume an elephant. How do snakes catch their prey in the wild ? What kinds of strategies do snakes use to hunt prey? As the top predator in the food chain, snakes are one of most perilous predators in nature. Snakes may hunt larger prey for sufficient nutrients in order to meet their physiological needs. Snakes capture their prey through three processes: finding their prey, capturing their prey and killing their prey.
Snakes obtain prey’s information through their tongues, heads and eyes. When snakes flick their tongues in and out, they pick up chemical information from prey through a special sense called Vomeronasal or Jacobson’s organ, which is on the roof of the mouth. Besides, snakes’ forked tongues also analyze direction from prey. In addition to snakes’ tongues, they sometimes detect prey’s body heat through special receptors on their heads, especially at night. These receptors called “pit organs” are fully developed in pit vipers, which are well-known by their heat-seeking pits. At night, snakes also use infrared vision to locate prey in the vicinity. Through infrared vision, snakes can clearly see their prey’s raw image and shape; furthermore, the vertical pupils in snakes help their night hunting by improving the images.
Most snakes make use of ambushing to capture their prey. They tend to stay inactive for most of the time because they require external heat to fuel bodies; additionally, this inactive behavior contributes to conserve energy for struggling with prey and digesting it. The best way to store energy is waiting and hiding. Snakes frequently use camouflage to prevent prey from discovering predators. Camouflage includes burying themselves in the dead leaves or weeds. Once the prey lowers its guard, snakes will strike against prey.
Snakes either consume their prey alive or kill their prey. When snakes hunt for prey, it is tricky for prey to escape due to snakes' inward teeth. However, eating prey alive is also high-risk as prey can wrestle inside, which is a considerable probability that snakes’ mouths will be injured by the prey. There are two major approaches for snakes to kill their prey: constriction and venom. Although constriction is a slow process, it is effective. Snakes coil themselves firmly around the prey to compress it until it is suffocated. Venomous snakes inject their toxins into prey by biting or spitting. According to the venom’s properties, prey will instantly or slowly become immobile.
A complicated animal, snake, uses multiple senses to capture their prey. First, snakes discover prey through their tongues, heads and eyes; second, they capture their prey through ambush; eventually, snakes eat their prey alive or kill them through constriction and venom. Even though a snake faces large prey, the cunning predator uses its intelligence to plan a comprehensive strategy and achieve a final victory against the huge prey.
References
Collective creation. (?). How Do Snakes Hunt?
Retrieved from
https://oddlycutepets.com/how-do-snakes-hunt/
Collective creation. (?). How Do Snakes Catch Their Prey And Subdue It?
Retrieved from
