Boa constrictors wearing blood pressure cuffs and tiny masks reveal the answer to a biological puzzle
When boa constrictors and other strangling snakes wrap their prey in a deadly embrace, they don't just exert pressure on their victim; they put the squeeze on their own lungs as well. Now new research shows how these remarkable reptiles use a sophisticated breathing technique to avoid suffocating themselves.
A team of researchers, led by John Capano of Brown University, reports in the Journal of Experimental Biology that boa constrictors can selectively move individual rib muscles in whatever parts of their chest are unblocked at a given moment. This lets small areas of the lungs function like a pump, sucking air through the constricted zones to absorb as much oxygen as possible.
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