7 Shocking Snake Stories

A California king snake  A Snake Can Eat a Longer Snake

You might think these videos are rather gross, but in order to solve a longstanding mystery of how a king snake can eat another snake that's longer than itself, Kate Jackson of the University of Toronto and colleagues watched the whole thing unfold. The king walks its jaws over the prey in ratchet fashion, then compresses its own vertebral column like an accordion to make the incoming snake go down. Then when all is said and done, the the king pukes some back up. Can you blame him? [SEE THE STORY & VIDEO]

Snakes Eat Their Offspring

Rattlesnake (Crotalus polystictus) in Mexico. Researchers found that many of mother rattlesnakes will eat dead offspring for energy. Many rattlesnake mothers will eat some of their non-surviving offspring, scientists learned in February, 2009. The postpartum cannibalism -- moms in the study ate about 11 percent of their eggs and dead offspring. Why? "A cannibal rattlesnake female can recover lost energy for reproduction without having to hunt for food, a dangerous activity that requires time and expends a great deal of energy," said Estrella Mociño and Kirk Setser, lead authors of the study and researchers at the University of Granada in Spain. [FULL STORY]

Snake Can 'Fly' 50 Feet


Pythons Eat Entire Prey, Bones and All


Cobra's Aim for Your Eyes


World's Smallest Snake Could Curl Up on a Quarter


Snakes Go Months Without Food. And Grow!

Rattlesnakes and two other snake species revealed their ability to drastically lower their metabolic rates, a trait that hadn't been documented in vertebrates. Imagine if you could stop eating for months, burn fat, grow taller, and be just fine! Marshall McCue at the University of Arkansas withheld food from 62 snakes -- ratsnakes, western diamondback rattlesnakes and ball pythons -- for about six months, typical for snakes in the wild, McCue and colleagues said. The snakes reduced their metabolic rates to survive, some by up to 72 percent. Amazingly, they also got longer, burning up their fat stores. "These animals take energy reduction to a whole new level," McCue said. [FULL STORY]