“They can basically just breathe wherever they want.”
The boa constrictor’s choke hold is an iconic animal attack. By coiling around its prey, a snake cansqueezes so hard — or swallows something as big as a monkey — without suffocating itself.
Now, experiments show that when one part of a boa constrictor’s rib cage is compressed — preventing the part of its lungs enclosed there from drawing in air — to inflate its lungs there. Boas and other snakes probably couldn’t have started throttling and swallowing large prey without this ability, researchers report March 24 in theBiologist John Capano of Brown University in Providence, R.I., and colleagues implanted metal markers on the ribs of three boa constrictors, about one-third and halfway down the animals’ bodies.
In these videos, the team wrapped a blood pressure cuff around different parts of the animals’ bodies. Then, the scientists increased the cuff’s pressure until the rib cage couldn’t move in that area — mimicking the effect of a snake using that part of its body to grip or gulp down prey. When gripped by a cuff about one-third of the way down their body, snakes breathed by moving some ribs closer to their tails. When wrapped in a cuff about halfway down their body, snakes breathed by moving some ribs closer to their heads. “They can basically just breathe wherever they want,” Capano says. That makes him wonder whether snakes also adjust their breathing during other activities that compress their bodies, such as slithering.
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Wanda Sykes Explains Why She Once “Shushed” Michelle ObamaWanda Sykes confessed that she 'shushed' Michelle Obama at the 2009 White House Correspondents' dinner: 'She's trying to make conversation. And I just gave her a look like, 'Woman, I'm working over here!''
Read more »
Why a Treehouse in Montana Is the Place to Stay in 2022A treehouse in Montana should be your next travel destination, here's why:
Read more »
Selby Drummond Hosts a Dinner for Closed Denim at Don AngieThe dinner marked the German brand's first U.S. event.
Read more »
Breakingviews - ECB squeeze leaves room for fiscal war responseEuropean countries have to shoulder the burden of the economic response to the war in Ukraine. That will add to the debt loads accumulated during the pandemic, at a time when the European Central Bank is pushing up borrowing costs. But governments can afford to be bold.
Read more »
Middleburg Heights residents reach out to Ukrainian refugees in Poland“We’re going to try to make an impact for nine days while we’re over there to see what we can do,” Pat Greco told Middleburg Heights City Council Tuesday, explaining he has traveled widely to volunteer elsewhere in times of humanitarian need.
Read more »