why predators that eat their pray whole (snakes, lizards, birds, frogs, fish, etc) don’t have their insides completely torn apart when they swallow an animal that is still alive?

Question

I understand venom, but I’ve seen a lot of videos of live animals still alive when a venomous snake is killed and cut open

In: Biology

Answer 1

I saw a video of a seagull eating a rat whole, head first. And I’m just like, how the hell does the bird digest that thing? The tail, the skull, the teeth, ew.

Answer 2

The prey has no easy access to oxygen in there. So is suffocated/dead.

But they do, rarely, escape, for example: [https://media4.s-nbcnews.com/i/newscms/2014_16/322921/140414-centipede-snake-cover-1500_1be1d0430c642bf8629853a16666a11c.jpg](https://media4.s-nbcnews.com/i/newscms/2014_16/322921/140414-centipede-snake-cover-1500_1be1d0430c642bf8629853a16666a11c.jpg)

Answer 3

They suffocate, inside of the predator constricts them, it is hot and they are also panicking taking big breaths.

Answer 4

I’ve wondered this too. And how does the victim die? Asphyxiation? Drowning in digestive fluids?

Answer 5

Most of the time they are already dead (see: constrictors or teeth) but their insides are pretty squishy, so if the prey doesn’t puncture anything, it will just die inside them from the chemical processes of digestion.