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For knife-toothed kukri snakes, the tastiest parts of a frog are its organs, preferably sliced out of the body cavity and eaten while the frog is still alive. After observing this macabre habit for the first time in Thailand, scientists have spotted two other species of kukri snakes that feast on the organs of living frogs and toads.
The news (and bloody) observations suggest that this behavior is more prevalent than expected in this group of snakes. Two snakes also swallowed their prey whole, raising new questions as to why they first extract organs from living animals.
Scientists have documented a Taiwanese kukri snake (Oligodon formosanus) and an ocellated kukri snake (Oligodon ocellatus) chasing amphibian organ meals, tearing the abdomens of frogs and toads and burying their heads inside, studies show. O. formosanus would even perform “death rolls” while squeezing its prey, perhaps to shake the organs. As the snakes swallowed the organs one by one, the amphibians were still alive. Sometimes the process took hours, the researchers reported.
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There are 83 species of kukri snakes in the Oligodon kind in Asia. Snakes are typically no more than 100 centimeters in length and the group’s name comes from the kukri, a curved machete from Nepal, as its shape is reminiscent of the large, highly modified rear teeth of snakes. Kukri snakes use these teeth to slice into eggs, but they can also be formidable weapons (as some very unfortunate frogs have discovered).
In a study, published on February 15 in the journal Herpetozoa, scientists described three snake attacks on ringed round frogs (Kaloula Fair), which are so round that they are also known as bubble frogs or chubby frogs. They have a brown back with lighter stripes on the sides and a cream colored belly, and they are up to 3 inches (8 cm) long, according to Thai national parks.
Two of the attacks were carried out by Taiwanese kukri snakes and took place in Hong Kong in October 2020. A snake, filmed on October 2 in a neighborhood residential garden, emerged from a hole in the ground to bite a frog in bubbles that passed the frog and shoves its head inside. The snake and the frog clashed for about 40 minutes; the snake performed around 15 body rotations, or “death rolls,” during the battle, according to the study.
“We believe that the purpose of these Death Scrolls was to tear off organs for subsequent swallowing,” Henrik Bringsøe, lead author of both studies and amateur herpetologist and naturalist, said in a press release.
A second Taiwanese kukri snake was discovered on Oct. 8 in an urban park as it was “vigorously” dining on a frog’s organs that were “exposed and visible,” the study authors wrote.
The third attack on a bubble frog was carried out by a small banded kukri snake – the species that was first documented exhibiting this behavior – on September 15, at a factory site outside of a small village in northeastern Thailand. During the struggle, the snake executed 11 death throws, its teeth firmly buried in the frog’s belly.
“The snake’s efforts resulted in its teeth penetrating the abdomen to such an extent that blood and possibly organ tissue appeared,” the scientists reported. “Finally, the frog was swallowed whole while still alive.”
Another study, published the same day in Herpetozoa, presented a sighting of an ocellated kukri snake feasting on an Asian common toad (Duttaphrynus melanostictus) inside a lodge in a national park in southern Vietnam. These toads are sturdy, thick-skinned and variable in color, and they are approximately 8.5 cm long, according to Animal diversity web, a biodiversity database maintained by the Museum of Zoology at the University of Michigan.
Observers recorded this attack on May 31, 2020. The toad was already dead by then, “and the snake was moving its head and neck from side to side as if trying to make its way through. inside, ”the study authors wrote. A few minutes later, the snake swallowed the toad whole.
In the 2020 study of small banded kukri snakes eviscerating Asian common toads, scientists hypothesized that snakes selectively eat organs to avoid deadly toxins from toads. However, the ocellated kukri snake swallowed the toad after its organ appetizer, hinting that the snakes might have a natural resistance to toad poison.
Chubby frogs also have a built-in deterrent that can encourage predators to go straight to their organs. Although frogs are not poisonous, they defensively secrete an unpleasant-tasting sticky mucus, according to the University of California at Berkeley. AmphibiaWeb.
“We hope that future observations can uncover additional aspects of the fascinating eating habits of kukri snakes – although we can indeed call them horrific!” Bringsøe said in the statement.
Originally posted on Live Science.
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