New research finds the boa constrictor snake chokes the life out of its victim in a manner different from what its name might suggest.
According to BBC News, authors of a study published in the Journal of Experimental Biology learned boa constrictors stop their prey's blood flow from reaching their vital organs, meaning suffocation is not their primary tactic.
"It looks like the [prey] animals are gasping for air," Scott Boback, from Dickinson College, said in a press release. "What [Dave] Hardy saw was the speed at which the animals were dying... they were dying way too quickly for it to be suffocation. He suspected that it was circulatory or cardiac arrest because of the speed at which death was occurring.
"We have been studying constriction for a number of years."
Because of the nature of constriction, Boback stated snakes leave themselves open to biting.
"The thing I find fascinating is that all snakes have is their mouth to engage with prey," he told BBC News. "A [constrictor] has to hold a potentially dangerous animal right next to it.
"And that animal's fighting for its life, so it will absolutely take chunks out the snake if it can."
The researchers set out to find why the snakes evolved to cut off their prey's blood flow and found it was a quicker method that also saved them some personal damage.
"I remember being in the room and the students were looking at the data in disbelief that it happened that fast. We could see the arterial pressure go down, the venous pressure go up and we could see this right when the snake was doing it [squeezing]," Boback said in the release. "By understanding the mechanisms of how constriction kills, we gain a greater appreciation for the efficiency of this behavior and the benefit it provided early snakes."
