The mystery photo that you just saw is a snake eating a frog.
This particular snake is a Colubrid snake. The colubrid family
includes a large list of your average, every day, non-venomous snake. The term
non-venomous means that they are not venomous to humans, but might be to small
prey, like this frog. The Colubrid family includes garter, water, brown, white,
rat, green, and king snakes, and they come in all sizes and colors. The snake
in this photo is quite possibly a garter snake, a snake that is common in Illinois
as well as Peru.
Depending on the size of the snake, many snakes
only need to eat a few times per year. This delicious frog meal might satisfy
the snake for the next few weeks. Notice how large the frog is compared to the
skinny snake. It took the snake about 10 minutes to swallow the frog. Never mind
chewing, snakes eat their prey whole!
Although this image might make your stomach turn, this is
an important part of the food chain. What did the frog eat before he got eaten?
What animal will prey upon this tasty snake? Where do we fit in?
