Learn how the predatory pilot black snake strikes, suffocates, and consumes whole its rodent prey
The pilot black snake (Elaphe obsoleta) suffocates prey such as rats and mice before swallowing them whole.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.The female pilot black snake (Elaphe obsoleta) lays a clutch of eggs in a warm protected place. After six to eight weeks of incubation, the young snake hatches from its egg able to care for itself.
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Transcript
NARRATOR: The pilot black snake's nest is sometimes located near water where small animals live or come to drink.
Snakes are carnivorous. Rodents, such as rats and mice, form a large part of their diet.
Snakes strike moving objects. Having secured its prey, the black snake squeezes it to death before eating it. The body is coiled around the prey, tightening until respiration stops and suffocation occurs.
Food is always swallowed whole and head first. Highly mobile jaws permit the snake to swallow food larger than its normal mouth size. Inside the mouth backward-curving teeth pull the food down the throat as the jaws work separately. This makes it appear as if the snake were pulling itself around its food. A large meal may keep a snake alive for weeks.
Snakes are carnivorous. Rodents, such as rats and mice, form a large part of their diet.
Snakes strike moving objects. Having secured its prey, the black snake squeezes it to death before eating it. The body is coiled around the prey, tightening until respiration stops and suffocation occurs.
Food is always swallowed whole and head first. Highly mobile jaws permit the snake to swallow food larger than its normal mouth size. Inside the mouth backward-curving teeth pull the food down the throat as the jaws work separately. This makes it appear as if the snake were pulling itself around its food. A large meal may keep a snake alive for weeks.
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