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A dragonfly in its radical final moult, metamorphosing from an aquatic nymph to a winged adult.. In biology, moulting (British English), or molting (American English), also known as sloughing, shedding, or in many invertebrates, ecdysis, is a process by which an animal casts off parts of its body to serve some beneficial purpose, either at specific times of the year, or at specific points in ...
Birds of prey are able to drop down on unsuspecting snakes and snatch them up into the air in a split second! Watch this exciting video to learn which animals possess the skills needed to ...
The question of why prey animals stot has been investigated by evolutionary biologists including John Maynard Smith, C. D. Fitzgibbon, and Tim Caro; all of them conclude that the most likely explanation given the available evidence is that it is an honest signal to predators that the stotting animal would be difficult to catch. Such a signal is ...
Molting (or "ecdysis") serves a number of purposes - it allows old, worn skin to be replaced and can be synced to mating cycles, as with other animals. Molting occurs periodically throughout the life of a snake. Before each molt, the snake regulates its diet and seeks defensible shelter.
Other live animals, up to nearly their own size, have been observed to be seized predaceously and dropped in flight. Among these are rock hyraxes, hares, marmots and, in one case, a 62 cm (24 in) long monitor lizard. [14] [38] Larger animals have been known to be attacked by bearded vultures, including ibex, Capra goats, chamois, and steenbok. [14]
When bullsnakes detect live objects too big to be prey, they seem to perceive the object as a predator and take defensive action. Their first action is to remain quiet, not moving. Then, when they feel they are able to move away from the object, their next line of defense is to move away as quickly as possible.
For example, pit vipers prey on small birds, choosing targets of the right size for their mouth gape: larger snakes choose larger prey. They prefer to strike prey that is both warm and moving; [ 31 ] their pit organs between the eye and the nostril contain infrared (heat) receptors, enabling them to find and perhaps judge the size of their ...
The snake strikes at its prey and holds on, pulling the prey into its coils or, in the case of very large prey, pulling itself onto the prey. The snake then wraps one or two loops around the prey, forming a constriction coil. The snake monitors the prey's heartbeat to ascertain it is dead.