In the Interest of Fairness to Snakes

how-a-snake-eats-a-frog…or to illustrate why some people want them all dead, here’s a story (from the October 31, 1895 Chatham Record) about a snake having a good day for a change.

Breathlessly told, kind of gruesome.

How a Snake Eats a Frog.

How a snake eats frogs is worth the telling. The writer distinctly remembers witnessing a dramatic meal of the kind, in which, of course, the snake came out the winner, getting his dinner in excellent style and completely vanquishing the frog.

The snake invariably grabs the frog by one of his hind legs. This preliminary struggle is one of the most impressive features of the combat. With a well-defined natural instinct the chief effort of the frog is to keep his other hind leg far away from the snake’s mouth, in the hope that he may speedily exhaust his enemy’s strength, and also because he feels that if his other hind leg is made captive he will have less power to fight.

Once both hind legs are within the serpent’s fangs the act of swallowing begins. Inch by inch the struggling frog is drawn further into the yawning orifice that expands at each gulp. The channel through which the frog has to pass is gradually enlarged by slow efforts on the snake’s part, accompanied by the fiercer and fiercer convulsions of the wretched wiggler.

The gullet of the snake in its natural proportions is quite large enough to contain the limbs of the frog, but as by frequent gulps the body is drawn further and further into the gullet the difficulty of swallowing increases. Gradually the ophidian’s throat is distended, gradually the frog is compressed and drawn out. Finally the latter is double its normal length and half his circumference. As the process of expansion on the on hand and contraction on the other goes on, the frog is worked down little, by little until he is finally “Jonahed,” and the snake starts in on his afternoon nap. – New York World

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