Now, Wondernose, I suppose you are imaging some kind of fish with sharp pegs sticking up from its back. But no, our mystery animal’s teeth grow internally—right into the throat—and there they are actually used in “biting” the food. The animal has thirty teeth, all in a row down the inside of its throat. The first seventeen or so are long and knife-shaped; the next few are broad and flat; and, finally, there are some sturdy, peg-shaped teeth that point forward.
How can teeth located in the throat be used to bite food? That’s a good question, Wondernose. Imagine if you would have to send your food whole partway down the throat before it could be chewed!
Yet that’s basically what our mystery reptile does. It eats nothing but eggs—any size of eggs, from the tiniest bird’s eggs up to regular-sized chicken eggs. Looking at our reptile’s mouth, you wouldn’t guess it could swallow a chicken egg whole, but it can! You see, the jaws are hinged, so they can really expand. The skin and scales of the head are very elastic. Though this animal’s head and neck are only the size of a man’s finger, believe it or not, it can take in a chicken egg without breaking it.
Good guess, Wondernose. Our mystery reptile is indeed a snake. I guess you’ve heard how snakes are able to engulf food that is larger than themselves. It won’t be hard for you to guess this snake’s name either, because it is connected with what the snake eats. Correct, of course. This is the egg-eating snake! Lots of other snakes eat eggs too, but these are the only ones that eat nothing but eggs. Obviously, during the times of year when birds aren’t laying eggs, these snakes must do some fasting. Most of the egg-eating species, however, live in Africa and India in areas where the climate encourages birds to nest year-round.
The snake’s colors range from gray to brown, usually with squarish patches on its back.
Let’s picture an egg-eating snake enjoying breakfast. Having found an egg through its sense of smell, the snake will coil around the egg to keep it steady. A few huge yawns will help to limber up those jaws that will now have to extend. Gulp-gulp-gulp, bit-by-bit, the snake draws in the egg. It may take a quarter hour to do this! Imagine how swollen the head looks.
Now it’s time to break the egg and swallow the contents. Pushing the egg back to those saw-like teeth in the throat, the snake begins to bend its head back and forth. This produces the sawing action needed to rip open the egg, which then easily slips to the stomach.
But not the shell! Those flat teeth farther back will fold up the shell so the snake can spit it out. What an amazing mechanism!
