Nationalgeographic.co.id—There are people who really pay attention to how we should chew food. Horace Fletcher, for example. Known as ‘The Great Masticator’, Fletcher recommends that people chew food them 32 times before swallowing them.
“Nature will punish those who don’t chew,” he wrote Science ABC.
Ular clearly disregarded Fletcher’s advice.
Every nature documentary about ular seems to have a scene dedicated to a ular who swallowed his whole meal. Every gloomy movement is followed by the camera moment ular it slowly moves its jaws over its victim. To ular larger ones, such as anacondas, boas, and pythons, can prey as large as an adult deer!
So, how ular, especially big game eaters, digest their prey whole—skin, hair, bones, and all?
In short, ular have many components in common with the system digestion human. System digestion stretches along the fat ular, begins with the mouth or buccal cavity, and extends to the abdomen.
Ular usually prey on small prey, such as mice, birds, lizards, and sometimes ular other. For larger victims, ular have “walking jaws”. The two halves of its jaw can operate separately and sort of “walk” over its large prey, swallowing it first. Curved fangs prevent the animal from escaping, digging deeper as the animal struggles to escape (if the animal is still alive).
Food then down to the esophagus and to the stomach.
Stomach ular, like many other stomachs in the animal kingdom, secretes an acidic fluid (hydrochloric acid) and enzymes digestion to break down food.
Science ABC
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Illustration of snake digestive system
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From the stomach, we move on to the small intestine. Snakes also have a pancreas, liver, and gallbladder that secrete digestive enzymes into the intestines. The intestines absorb nutrients into the bloodstream. From the small intestine, it moves into a kind of space like the large intestine.
Snakes are able to digest most of the animals they eat, including their bones. The only part that remains is hair, which is made of a strong protein called keratin, as well as calcium from bones. This snake excretes it in the form of pellets.
Strategies eat big prey
Boas and pythons have a unique system that allows them to digest, say, a 130-pound antelope, which is recorded to have been eaten by an African rock python.
Many large animal-eating snakes are ambush hunters, such as the Burmese python, waiting for prey to stumble into its path. They eat less often, but catch larger prey than other animals that eat more frequently and actively hunt. Between meals, this infrequent supply of food lowers his metabolic activity to a minimum, which also reduces the size of his digestive system.
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WIKISCIENCE
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Bothrops jararaca—known as jararaca or yarara—is a species of venomous snake endemic to South America in southern Brazil, Paraguay, and northern Argentina.
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Increased metabolism
However, when they are ready to feed, and the prey is secured, the snakes increase their metabolism by 2 to 3 times. It’s basically like running right after you wake up from a deep sleep. They strengthen their heart muscle and circulatory system to help them pump more blood and improve their digestive system almost threefold. Imagine if your digestive system gained a few pounds just to digest lunch.
As soon as the victim enters his stomach, the organ will begin to secrete acids and digestive enzymes. Within a few hours, the pH of the stomach drops from 7.5 to 2 and then to 1.5.
In this pouch of gastric juices, the animal, whether it be an ibex, antelope or crocodile, will be broken down. Strong stomach muscles will shake and mix the food, in a certain way, replacing the work of the teeth.
Snakes manage to digest all of this because, unlike many mammals which only keep their food in the stomach for a few hours to a day, the snake’s stomach continues to digest its food for days or even weeks, depending on the size of the stomach. An acid attack of 1.5 for two weeks is sufficient to dissolve most organic matter (except keratin, the protein that makes up hair and nails). Liquid food passes into the intestines, where it is further broken down.
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Sacrifice consumes great prey
Prolonged digestion requires a lot of energy. Snakes must expend resources to make and secrete enzymes and acids and to move muscles that aid digestion, among other metabolic considerations. Snakes also increase their oxygen intake to the same level as when you exercise, or when a racehorse runs.
In fact, pythons can use half the energy they get from their large meal to actually digest food.
This also puts the snake in a vulnerable position. At the beginning of digestion, when the snake is practically unable to move from the giant food bulge in its stomach, other predators can threaten the snake. If the threat is unavoidable, the snake may vomit its food and flee the scene, although this is not good for the snake’s digestive system.
In addition, the horns of their prey can damage or destroy all of the snake’s internal organs, which can cause the snake to fall ill or die. Trying to eat something too big can even cause the snake to explode, as was recorded when a python tried to eat a crocodile that was too big for it.
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Mahandis Yoanata Thamrin
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The blue coral snake or in Indonesia known as the big chili snake (Calliophis bivirgatus), has a
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Speaking of explosions, the second drawback is decay. Immediately after ular swallows its prey, whether it is a rat or an ibex, the prey will start to rot. The bacteria on the animal will start to decompose, which can cause the animal to bloat and get bigger. If ular had eaten something that was already big enough, he couldn’t let his food get any bigger. Putrefaction also brings with it a strong odor, toxic chemicals produced by bacteria, and infection. System digestion ular basically a race against bacteria.
To prevent this, ular can keep themselves comfortable and warm. Ular are cold-blooded animals, which means their bodies mimic the outside temperature. In turn, how their organs function will also depend on temperature. Warmer temperatures accelerate digestion, so ular often sunbathe so their bodies are ready to digest.
In colder areas, ular as ular viper and ular The rattlesnake uses its venom to digest its prey from the inside out. The poison, contains enzymes digestion which divides the animal from within. Therefore, ular there is no need to use extra energy to just digest its prey from the outside.
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