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Authors: Silke GC Cleuren, Alistair Evans, James Rule, David P. Hocking, Anthony Herrel
Scientists are finally learning how venomous snakes sink their teeth into their prey thanks to a series of high-speed videos.
In a new study published on Thursday (October 23). Journal of Experimental Biologyscientists have recorded various species snakes stunning fake booty with multi-angle and high definition footage. The videos revealed three different ways snakes eat their dinner.
Since the early 1950s, scientists have captured the moment a venomous snake pounces to eat in photos and videos. But the impacts happen so quickly—as little as 0.1 seconds—that older cameras weren’t fast enough to capture all the details. Meanwhile, more recent field recordings of snake strikes have often been limited by low resolution and poor lighting, the researchers wrote in a new study.
To better understand how different species of snakes attack their food, the researchers went to Venomworld in Paris, an animal facility where the study co-authored. Remy Ks and colleagues regularly extract venom from snakes and scorpions for medical and pharmaceutical purposes. There, they made fake prey out of muscle-like medical gel and dangled it in front of 36 species of venomous snakes while filming with multiple high-speed cameras.
When trying to strike the snakes, “I flinched a few times,” the study’s co-author said. Herring CleurenAustralian Monash University biologist, said a statement.
Deinagkistrodon spicyA common species of viper in Southeast Asia that attacks false prey at high speed. | Authors: Silke GC Cleuren, Alistair Evans, James Rule, David P. Hocking, Anthony Herrel
After recording more than 100 high-speed videos of 36 different species of snakes striking fake prey, the researchers observed patterns in these reptiles’ attacks. The footage revealed that most vipers bite their target within 0.1 seconds of being attacked – faster than the startle response of most mammals, meaning their prey is unlikely to escape. Though some pass — a family with a rude addition of death (Acanthophis rugosus) and the Cape Coral Snake (Slippery asp) were as fast as viperids, the others taking more than 0.3 seconds to reach their prey.
Different families of snakes also inject their venom in different ways. The viperids struck quickly from a curled position, but sometimes did not get the right bite angle. If this happened, the viper would withdraw its fang from its prey and reinsert it in a more favorable position before injecting its venom.
Elapids began to approach their prey more cunningly to reduce the distance they had to cover. They then loosened their jaws slightly and bit again several times, “likely to prolong the penetration of the venom into the prey,” the researchers wrote.
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The team also observed two snakes from the colubrid family, the mangrove snake (Boiga dendrophila) and Fisher’s tree snake (Toxicodryas pulverulenta). These “rear fangs” snakes inject venom through the teeth at the back of the upper jaw. when T. dusty biting the fake prey, it dragged its fangs back and forth across the gel, creating crescent-shaped wounds that could help it extract as much venom as possible.
Future research could determine whether prey size affects snake attacks, the researchers wrote.