Hungry snakes can stay alert for almost half a year

Biologists have found certain key adaptation techniques in snakes that allow them to go on starvation for a very long period.

London, Aug 17 : Biologists have found certain key adaptation techniques in snakes that allow them to go on starvation for a very long period.

Some snakes are known to be able to go without food for periods of nearly two years. However, until recently, the mechanism behind this unique skill was unknown.

As part of his research, biologist Marshall McCue from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, kept ratsnakes, pythons, and rattlesnakes in cages where they could not alter their activity levels - they were forced to be inactive.

The snakes were also unable to reduce body temperature, stuck with the laboratory temperature of a steady 27 degree C.

As part of the experiment, the snakes were then starved for a period of up to 168 days.

McCue then measured the animals' oxygen consumption and found that they had somehow managed to reduce their resting metabolic demands by up to 72 percent, but all the while maintaining the same level of alertness.

"We had no idea that these animals could reduce their metabolic rates lower than their standard resting rate. It would seem that their pilot light, which we already thought to be as low as possible, could actually go much lower," said McCue.

McCue said the snakes might be reducing the density of energy-generating cell machinery called mitochondria in highly active tissues such as those in the liver and heart for reducing their metabolism.

"In most starving animals, allowing lipid levels to fall below 10% body mass is a death sentence. But snakes were able to go down to 5% body fat before making a switch to protein consumption, letting them hold on for longer without food," McCue said.

"Even then, consuming their own proteins had little effect on their health because they had slowed down their metabolism so drastically," he said.

The research is scheduled for publication in next month's issue of the journal Zoology, reports Nature.

ANI