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Sneaky Snakes

It's hard enough to catch a bite to eat when your prey consists of relatively quick moving land animals. But when you're dealing with tiny, lightning fast fish, what can you do to improve your odds that you'll get a meal? Turn yourself into a tentacled water snake. Scientists at Vanderbilt University used high-speed video to capture images of the snake performing an unusual trick in order to force prey to swim directly into its mouth. The snake will lie motionless, its body in a "J" shape, and wait for prey to swim close. When a fish swims by the curve of the "J", the snake flexes the lower part of its body. The fish senses the movement and turns to swim away from the perceived threat... only to end up directly in the snake's mouth. You can see the slow motion video here. And you can read all about the study here.
Posted By: Nethie | Date: Fri Jul 03, 2009 | Permalink | Number of Comments: 3
Category: Animals, Food, Nature, Science
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Comments
Listed in chronological order. Newest comments at the end.
Boys and girls take warning
When you go near the lake
Keep your eyes wide open
And watch for Sneaky Snake
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 07/03 at 08:00 PM
these particular snakes tend to live in southeast asia, so I don't think most of us need to worry. unless of course that was some kind of weird sexual innuendo, and then we all need to worry.
Posted by Nethie on 07/03 at 08:22 PM
pretty slick. but then how hard is it to out smart a fish? guys have been taking beer along when fishing for years, to level the playing field. LOL
Posted by patty on 07/03 at 09:36 PM
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