Watching a large snake eat it’s prey can be an inspiring event – especially when the food is many times large than the snake itself. But what if you are not such a large snake – can you spend the time slowly swallowing your lunch when there’s animals around that would view you as a tasty morsel. Threadsnakes may not be able to tackle large dinners but they have developed their own way of eating – and they prefer fast food on the go.
A study by Nate Kley and Elizabeth Brainerd have discovered that the way that threadsnakes – which measure up to 8 inches long and feed on ants pupae and larvae – eat in a very different way to their larger relations. While large snakes such as pythons are able to use their hinged jaws to swallow larger animals the threadsnakes use their lower jaw as a shovel to get the food in quickly. While large snakes can lie around for hours enjoying their meal the threadsnakes need to get into the ants nest, eat and then get our quickly before the army ants appear and attack them.
‘ Unlike their snake cousins, threadsnakes are chowhounds, tucking into meals at a rapid rate, with three or four bites each second. The front part of the triple-jointed lower jaws of these snakes swings in and out of the mouth “like a pair of saloon doors” in order to drag prey quickly into the esophagus,’ Kley said.
The threadsnakes are the only vertebrates that scientists know of that use just their lower jaw to devour prey.
