It is the snakes' jaws that have allowed them to occupy their ecological niche. They can open their mouths a full 150 degrees, allowing them to swallow many types of prey that would otherwise be far too large. For example, the African egg-eating snake feeds on birds eggs that are several times wider than its head. Once swallowed, the eggs are broken by the snake's special vertebra, which project into its gullet and crack the eggshells.

Some snakes use venom to kill other prey, while others have a less powerful bite and capture prey by constriction, a process in which the snake coils itself tightly and suffocates the prey. Some pit-vipers can consume prey that are heavier than themselves, but most snakes can only handle animals that weigh considerably less than themselves. The actual weight of the prey is not the limiting factor so much as its diameter: since snakes swallow their meals whole, some animals are simply too wide to fit between the snake's specially adapted jaws.

reptiles -- page 3 of 5
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