Natures wonders: how boa constrictors squeeze and breathe (Introduction)

by David Turell , Friday, March 25, 2022, 18:20 (972 days ago) @ David Turell

By controlling multiple muscles to keep some lung open:

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/boa-constrictor-snake-squeeze-prey-without-suffocating

"The boa constrictor’s choke hold is an iconic animal attack. By coiling around its prey, a snake can squeeze the life out of a victim in mere minutes before gulping it down whole (SN: 8/9/15). But it’s been unclear just how Boa constrictor squeezes 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 — the snake can move another section of its rib cage 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 the Journal of Experimental Biology. (my bold)

***

"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."

Comment: Same chicken and egg problem: If boas eat this way, the bolded comment above is important. If not designed tis way, how could it evolve naturally? The boa came with 400 ribs to allow this squeeze and breath technique, as stated in the research article. Did the boa evolve all those ribs in advance? Not likely. God's design is a better explanation.