When you buy through links on our site , we may earn an affiliate commission . Here ’s how it works .
Snakes are known for gulp down truly elephantine meal . However , one species of serpent outpace them all , take the big fair game comparative to its size of any known snake — and it ’s not the python .
know as the Gans ' egg - feeder ( Dasypeltis gansi ) , this skinny , nonvenomous African ophidian has a gape so big that it can live with spherical bird egg whole despite its diminutive size of it , which tops out at about 40 inches ( 102 cm ) in length . Its ability to dine on quarry much larger than itself get from the stretchy skin that connects the snake ’s left and correct downcast lower jawbone , allowing it to open its maw super astray , according to a study put out Aug. 8 in theJournal of Zoology .
After swallowing the egg whole, the Gans' egg-eater contorts its body to crack the egg and spits out the empty shell.
" They seem to be the world record book holder for the size of their gape and their overall size , " study authorBruce Jayne , a biologist and professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Cincinnati , told Live Science . " Their power is even more extreme than Burmese pythons ' . "
In fact , the Gans ' nut - eater can pig prey three to four clip big than Snake that are classified as " generalists , " such as the sinister rat snake ( Pantherophis obsoletus ) , whose diet , in addition to eggs , includes matter like gnawer and amphibians , concord to astatement .
Related : The biggest snake in the human race ( and 9 other jumbo serpent )
Anterior views of CT scans of the maximal gape of a rat snake (left) and an egg-eating snake (right) that have the same snout-vent length. The gray areas indicate the fraction of maximal gape area that is attributable to the stretch of the soft tissue between the lower jaws.
Jayne put the Gans ' eggs - eater ’s egg - swallow skills to the test — even capturing its use up abilities onvideo — to look into whether it had the gravid gape relative to its size .
In the lab , Jayne feast a Gans ' egg - eater a quail egg . After swallow it whole , the ophidian distort its acantha to snap the egg , finally regurgitating only the unkept shell . ( The entire process endure 15 to 30 minutes . )
The fact that teeth are " near absent in the metal money " proves good , since it " help the liquified contents of the egg not to be throw out " as the snake swallow it , Jayne said .
" Swallowing a relatively benign object that is gruelling and smooth is unmanageable to do , " Jayne said . " Having teeth would stimulate [ the testis ’s message ] to spatter out [ of its mouth ] if it ’s puncture by needle - corresponding structures like teeth . "
This is n’t the first metre Jayne has tested snakes ' gape sizes . Last year , he read how wideBurmese pythons(Python bivittatus)could unfold their mouths . He encounter that they , too , have an impressive ability to dine on larger target ; in the natural state , they ’ve been known toswallow deer whole .
— 1st gene - edit snakes use inscrutable ' Turing pattern ' to achieve near - gross hexangular scales
— Snake enchant consume even big snake in striking new video
— 10 of the most venomous Snake on the planet
While that ’s no doubt impressive , a Gans ' egg - eater is capable of consuming target with a fussy - sectioned arena that ’s more than twice that of a Burmese python of similar weight , according to the written report .
Jayne said this " superpower " is a mean for endurance , since most shuttlecock bollock are " stout " and " global , " like Ping - Pong ball , whereas mice and rotter are typically more elongated , the former proving more challenging for other snake mintage with smaller mouths . The Gans ' testis - eater ’s extreme gape evolved so that the serpent could specialize in eat quarry that has " a modest amount of mass per ill-tempered - sectioned region , " according to the statement .
" One of the benefit of eat orchis is that they do n’t push back , " Jayne said . " D. gansihas a prey resource that is immobile . "
