What is a snake’s natural diet, and how does it get its food?

Snakes are carnivores by nature. This means that snakes eat meat. The diet of a snake consists of small mammals, fish, birds, amphibians and in some cases even other snakes. There is one type of snake that doesn’t have this as the main diet and this is the egg eating snake which feeds mainly on eggs. Snakes have a very uncanny ability whereby they unhinge their jaws so as to be able to sallow the prey whole. Snakes don’t have any teeth and that is why they are adapted to actually swallow whatever they catch and digest it whole.



The diet of a snake mostly depends on the area where it is living in. for the case of the sea snakes; they feed mainly ion fish because it is abundant within the ocean. There are the tree pythons that eat birds because of the fact that they live in trees. There are also the blind snakes which feed on the small insects like the ants and termites due to the fact that they live near those areas. The king cobras are very powerful snakes and therefore they are in a position to subdue bigger prey. These can even be able to feed on other snakes.

Senses

Snakes have been able to evolve into very efficient predators and that is how they have been able to develop some senses so as to be able to hunt prey in a more efficient and successful manner. Depending on the region they inhabit, many of the snakes possess these kinds of senses.

Vibrations

Snakes don’t hear sounds like the humans do. However, snakes are able to feel and catch vibrations and then interpret the vibrations and this allows them to hear. In this way, they are able to identify where the prey is exactly.

Heat-vision

Snakes such as pit vipers have a sense which is thermal seeking and it is actually very sensitive to the heat signatures of different animals. They may not even need to use their eyes while hunting in the dark because the heat vision can be used whenever they want to attack prey.

Chemical detection

Snakes don’t need to use nostrils so as to sense smell. They use the tongues which are able to pick any prey scent that may be around. The tongues are very sensitive to smell if the prey and the brain are capable of interpreting this so as to pin point the exact location.

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