Myanmar Python is huge and can reach 5 meters (16 feet). But their absolute size alone doesn’t explain their incredible open mouths—the number of animals can open their mouths—need to ingest deer or crocodile-sized prey.
A new study details how Python molorus bivittatus evolved a unique feature that stretched their jaws wide enough to swallow prey six times larger than some similarly sized snakes can eat. .
Despite their big appetite, wild Burmese pythons are actually vulnerable in their native Southeast Asia, partly due to human-caused habitat loss.
But in Florida they are introduced, they destroy local species and ecosystems by eating almost everything visible. "The Everglades ecosystem is based on the real-time changes of the species Burmese python, a species of Burmese python," said Ian Bartoszek, an environmental scientist at the Southwestern Florida Nature Reserve. "In the new study, Bartoszek and three other researchers carefully studied the biological properties of the snake, especially its ability to eat almost all the organisms encountered.
study found that to help their already large mouths open larger, Burmese pythons evolved a special feature: the superelastic skin between their jaws, which allowed them to swallow more than their highly flexible jaws allowed. Larger animals.
Because snakes tend to swallow their prey whole instead of chewing first, their mouths are a key factor in determining what they can eat.
CT scan of Myanmar python jaw
Unlike the jaws of humans and other mammals, the snake's mandible does not fuse, but is loosely attached to the elastic ligament, causing the mouth to be opened wider.
However, Bruce Jayne, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Cincinnati, explained that while the scalable jaw may be standard for snakes, the hyperelastic skin elasticity of Burmese python jaws has reached a new level.
"The elastic skin of the python's left and right jaws is completely different. On average, more than 40% of the total open area comes from elastic skin," Jayne said.
"Even if you correct their big heads, they are a big gap."
To understand the snake's mouth opening and body shape, Jayne and his colleagues also examined the mouth opening of wild and captive brown tree snakes (Boigaregularis) and Burmese pythons.
These smaller snakes are slightly toxic and will prey on birds and other small prey in forest canopies.
Myanmar python (left) Comparison of palm tree snake
By measuring snakes and their potential prey, researchers can estimate the largest animal that snakes can eat, as well as the relative benefits of eating different prey, from mice and rabbits to crocodiles and white-tailed deer.
data suggest that smaller snakes gain more benefits from larger open sizes, which allows them to eat relatively large prey. This means that the tiny pythons (symbolically) have a leg on other similarly sized snakes, as they can take advantage of a wider range of prey.
The larger size not only provides a wider menu for snakes, but also helps them stay away from other predators.
"Once these pythons reach a reasonable size, almost only crocodiles can eat them," Jayne said. "And pythons eat crocodiles."
Past research shows that pythons like Burmese pythons kill prey not by suffocating it, but by cutting off blood flow from helpless animals.
While this new study is more about understanding biology curiosity than figuring out how to control invasive species, it can at least help scientists predict the cascading effect of Burmese pythons on wetland ecosystem .
"This doesn't help them control them," Jayne said. “But it can help us understand the impact of invasive species.If you know how big a snake is and how long it will take them to reach that size, you can set a rough upper limit on the resources that snakes can use. ”
