For kukri snakes with knife-shaped teeth, the most delicious parts of a frog are the organs, preferably cut from the body cavity and eaten while the frog is alive. After observing this heinous habit For the first time in Thailand, scientists have seen two more kukri snake species feast on the organs of living frogs and toads.
The new (and gory) observations suggested that this behavior is more widespread in this snake group than expected. Two snakes also ended up swallowing their prey whole, raising new questions about why they would extract the organs of the living animals first.
The scientists documented a Taiwanese kukri snake (Oligodon formosanus) and an ocellated kukri snake (Oligodon ocellatus) pursuing amphibian organ meals, breaking open frogs and toads’ bellies and burying their heads in them, according to the studies. O. formosanus would even perform “death rolls” while holding its prey, perhaps to dislodge the organs. While the snakes swallowed the organs one by one, the amphibians were still alive. Sometimes the process took hours, the researchers reported.
Related: Beastly Parties: Great photos of animals and their prey
There are 83 types of kukri snakes in the Oligodon genus in Asia. The snakes are usually no more than 100 centimeters in length and the group’s name comes from the kukri, a curved machete from Nepal, because its shape is reminiscent of the snakes’ large, highly modified rear teeth. Kukri snakes use these teeth to cut eggs, but they can also be formidable cutting weapons (as some very unfortunate frogs have discovered).
In one study, published Feb. 15 in the journal Herpetozoascientists described three snake attacks on round, banded bullfrogs (Kaloula fair), which are round enough to be called bubble frogs or chubby frogs. They have brown backs with lighter stripes along their sides and cream-colored stomachs, and they are up to 8 cm long, according to Thai national parks
Two of the attacks were by Taiwanese kukri snakes and took place in Hong Kong in October 2020. A snake, filmed October 2 in a residential garden, emerged from a hole in the ground to bite a passing bubble frog. cut open the frog and stuff its head in it. Snake and frog struggled for about 40 minutes; According to the study, the snake performed about 15 body rotations, or “death rolls,” during battle.
“We believe the purpose of these death scrolls was to tear organs out and then be swallowed,” said Henrik Bringsøe, lead author of both studies and amateur herpetologist and naturalist. said in a statement
A second Taiwanese kukri snake was discovered Oct. 8 in a city park while “energetically” dining on a frog’s organs that were “bare and visible,” the study authors wrote.
The third attack on a bubble frog was by a small-banded kukri snake – the species first documented to exhibit this behavior – on Sept. 15 on a factory site outside a small village in northeastern Thailand. During the battle, the snake performed 11 death scrolls, its teeth firmly buried in the frog’s belly.
“The snake’s efforts resulted in its teeth penetrating so far into the abdomen that blood and possibly some organ tissue appeared,” the scientists reported. “Ultimately, the frog was swallowed whole.”
Another study, published the same day in Herpetozoa, presented an observation of an ocellated kukri snake feasting on an Asian common toad (Duttaphrynus melanostictus) in a lodge in a national park in southern Vietnam. These toads are sturdy, thick-skinned and variably colored, and they are about 8.5 inches long, according to Animal Diversity Web, a biodiversity database maintained by the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology.
Observers recorded this attack on May 31, 2020. The toad was dead by then, “and the snake was wiggling its head and neck as if trying to make its way in,” the study authors wrote. A few minutes later, the snake swallowed the entire pad.
In the 2020 study of small-banded kukri snakes removing Asian common toads, the scientists hypothesized that the snakes selectively ate the organs to avoid the toads’ deadly toxins. However, the ocellated kukri snake swallowed the toad after the organ appetizer, indicating that the snakes have some natural resistance to the toads’ venom.
Chubby frogs also have a built-in deterrent that can encourage predators to go straight to their organs. Although the frogs are not poisonous, they defensively secrete a sticky mucus that has an unpleasant taste, according to the University of California, Berkeley. AmphibiaWeb
“We hope that future observations can reveal additional aspects of kukri snakes’ fascinating feeding habits – although we can indeed call them gruesome!” Bringsøe said in the statement.
Originally published on Live Science.