Why do some snakes not have to chew their food?
All snakes swallow their food whole. Their teeth are designed for seizing and holding prey (and injecting venom in the case of the fangs of venomous snakes), not for chewing, and since they have no limbs they are unable to dismember their prey. They are able to swallow things larger than their own heads because their lower jaws are attached to the skull by an elastic ligament which allows a wide gape. The lower jaw bones also are not joined at the chin, allowing the mouth to spread wide open sideways. The snake can move each part of its jaw independently of the others, so it can hook its teeth into its food and ‘walk’ its mouth over the item, pulling it into its mouth. The stomach and skin are also stretchy to allow the ingestion of large food items, and the glottis can protrude from the mouth to allow breathing whilst the throat is blocked by swallowing. In the case of the egg-eating snake, the whole egg is engulfed and drawn into the snake’s throat. Here, downward-pointing projection
