Snake holds the record for the size of prey swallowed.

Gans egg-eating snakes have small bodies but can open their mouths extremely wide, allowing them to swallow large, spherical bird eggs.

After swallowing the egg whole, the Gans egg-eating snake twists its body to crack the egg and spit out the shell. Photo: Bruce Jayne — After swallowing the egg whole, the Gans egg-eating snake twists its body to crack the egg and spit out the shell. Photo: *Bruce Jayne*

Pythons are known for their ability to swallow huge meals. However, there is one snake that stands out above all others, eating the largest prey relative to its body size, Live Science reported on September 8.

Known as the Gans egg-eating snake ( Dasypeltis gansi ), this non-venomous African snake can open its mouth wide enough to swallow a spherical bird egg, despite its diminutive size of about 102 cm (36 inches). Its ability to eat prey much larger than itself comes from a stretchy layer of skin connecting the right and left lower jaws, which allows the snake to open its jaws extremely wide, according to research published in the August issue of the Journal of Zoology .

"They appear to hold the world record for the size of their mouth opening relative to their overall size. Their ability is even more impressive than that of the Burmese python," said study author Bruce Jayne, a professor of biology in the University of Cincinnati's Department of Biological Sciences .

In fact, Gans egg-eating snakes can swallow prey three to four times larger than common snakes, such as the black rat snake ( Pantherophis obsoletus ). Jayne tested the Gans egg-eating snake’s egg-eating ability in the lab. He fed the animal a quail egg. After swallowing the whole egg, it twisted its body to crack the egg, and then vomited up the broken shell. The entire process took 15 to 30 minutes.

The Gans egg-eating snake’s near-toothlessness is useful, Jayne says, because it prevents the liquid inside the egg from being sprayed out when swallowed. Swallowing something that is relatively smooth, hard, and relatively undamaged is difficult. The sharp teeth would cause the egg’s contents to spill out if the shell were punctured, Jayne explains.

CT scans show the maximum mouth opening size of rat snakes (left) and egg-eating snakes (right) of the same body length. Photo: Bruce Jayne — CT scans show the maximum mouth opening size of rat snakes (left) and egg-eating snakes (right) of the same body length. Photo: *Bruce Jayne*

This isn’t the first time Jayne has examined the size of a snake’s mouth. Last year, he studied how wide Burmese pythons ( Python bivittatus ) open their mouths and found they can eat impressively large prey. In the wild, they have swallowed deer whole. However, the Gans egg-eating snake ate prey with a cross-sectional area more than twice that of a Burmese python of the same weight.

This “superpower” is a way for Gans egg snakes to survive, Jayne says, because most bird eggs are plump and spherical, while mouse eggs are more elongated. Bird eggs are more difficult for snakes that can’t open their mouths very wide. Gans egg snakes have developed the ability to open their mouths extremely wide, which helps them specialize in swallowing large meals. One benefit of eating eggs is that they don’t move and fight back like living creatures.

Thu Thao (According to Live Science )

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