Why arent there any herbivore species of snake?🐍
Jul 8, 2021 0:22:41 GMT
theravenking, politicidal, and 1 more like this
Post by dividavi on Jul 8, 2021 0:22:41 GMT
Here are some answers. If you have any other insights please post on this thread.
From: www.quora.com/Why-arent-there-any-herbivore-species-of-snake
www.quora.com/What-animal-will-a-snake-not-eat
From: www.quora.com/Why-arent-there-any-herbivore-species-of-snake
Profile photo for Stefan Pociask
Stefan Pociask, former Army Paratrooper. Son of war refugees.
Updated August 15, 2016
First off… you’d need this:
There are two factors involved in why there are no herbivorous snakes:
Their digestive tract.
Their teeth.
Oddly enough, despite a snake’s exceptionally long body, among vertebrates, snakes have one of the smallest ratios of digestive tract length vs. body mass. In most vertebrates, the intestines are convoluted which means there is an awful lot of intestine stuffed in there all coiled up. A 6′ human has close to 30 feet of intestine, for example. A snake on the other hand, has a tract that is shorter than its total body length. There is no room for much coiling, given that the body is so narrow. The cellulose in plant matter takes a long time to break down in order to extract maximum nutritional benefit. A 5′ intestine in a 6′ snake would not allow full digestion, and basically a herbivorous snake would starve to death.
Now you might say that when a snake eats another animal, that animal stays in the snakes body a long time. True. But one carnivorous meal has much more bulk than one herbivorous meal. As an example… you buy a huge bag of spinach from the store. It’s packed with leaves. It’s maybe 12″ x 8″ and takes up a lot of room in your cart. You go and sautee that bag of spinach, and suddenly it wilts down to a green glob the size of your fist. Plants don’t have that much bulk. So a snake that eats leaf after leaf after leaf, one at a time, isn’t getting all that much food once it’s compressed. Compare that to a snake eating one lizard, which hardly compresses at all. So add that fact to what I’ve explained about the length of time plant matter has to digest, and the short digestive tract… and once again, you see that a snake eating plant matter is a losing battle, nutritionally … if you consider amount of effort vs. benefit received.
The teeth of a snake are not conducive to breaking down plant matter. Snakes have nothing like molars to aid in the pre-digestion of plant matter. And as I stated above, plant matter digestion needs all the help it can get, and molars give it a head start.
All this is why we won’t see any hipster vegetarian or vegan snakes.
Stefan Pociask, former Army Paratrooper. Son of war refugees.
Updated August 15, 2016
First off… you’d need this:
There are two factors involved in why there are no herbivorous snakes:
Their digestive tract.
Their teeth.
Oddly enough, despite a snake’s exceptionally long body, among vertebrates, snakes have one of the smallest ratios of digestive tract length vs. body mass. In most vertebrates, the intestines are convoluted which means there is an awful lot of intestine stuffed in there all coiled up. A 6′ human has close to 30 feet of intestine, for example. A snake on the other hand, has a tract that is shorter than its total body length. There is no room for much coiling, given that the body is so narrow. The cellulose in plant matter takes a long time to break down in order to extract maximum nutritional benefit. A 5′ intestine in a 6′ snake would not allow full digestion, and basically a herbivorous snake would starve to death.
Now you might say that when a snake eats another animal, that animal stays in the snakes body a long time. True. But one carnivorous meal has much more bulk than one herbivorous meal. As an example… you buy a huge bag of spinach from the store. It’s packed with leaves. It’s maybe 12″ x 8″ and takes up a lot of room in your cart. You go and sautee that bag of spinach, and suddenly it wilts down to a green glob the size of your fist. Plants don’t have that much bulk. So a snake that eats leaf after leaf after leaf, one at a time, isn’t getting all that much food once it’s compressed. Compare that to a snake eating one lizard, which hardly compresses at all. So add that fact to what I’ve explained about the length of time plant matter has to digest, and the short digestive tract… and once again, you see that a snake eating plant matter is a losing battle, nutritionally … if you consider amount of effort vs. benefit received.
The teeth of a snake are not conducive to breaking down plant matter. Snakes have nothing like molars to aid in the pre-digestion of plant matter. And as I stated above, plant matter digestion needs all the help it can get, and molars give it a head start.
All this is why we won’t see any hipster vegetarian or vegan snakes.
Greg Long, former Retired at General Motors
Answered December 13, 2020
Originally Answered: Are there any herbivorous snakes?
No, there are not. There are no snakes that eat plants. Every species of snake needs to eat animals to survive. All snakes are obligate carnivores, which means they only eat meat. Snakes have short intestinal tracts, and cannot digest or extract nutrients from plant matter (e.g. vegetables). Oct 23, 2020
Answered December 13, 2020
Originally Answered: Are there any herbivorous snakes?
No, there are not. There are no snakes that eat plants. Every species of snake needs to eat animals to survive. All snakes are obligate carnivores, which means they only eat meat. Snakes have short intestinal tracts, and cannot digest or extract nutrients from plant matter (e.g. vegetables). Oct 23, 2020
Orion Ulfsson, I own five and study them as a hobby
Answered May 29
A good rule of thumb is that if the animal is bigger than the snake it will not eat it. But this is too broad of a question as there are many species of snakes that are specialized eaters who will only eat one animal, or in the case of egg eating snakes no animals.
Answered May 29
A good rule of thumb is that if the animal is bigger than the snake it will not eat it. But this is too broad of a question as there are many species of snakes that are specialized eaters who will only eat one animal, or in the case of egg eating snakes no animals.
