WASHINGTON: If you had a head like a snake’s, you could swallow a watermelon whole, no problem! All you need is a flexible skull, backward-curved teeth and very elastic skin.

A snake swallows the prey’s head first, and produces lots of saliva to ease the prey down its throat.

Let’s start with that skull: The bones are connected by elastic ligaments, which have a lot of stretch. The joint of the upper and lower jaws is set far back in the skull, allowing the mouth to open as wide as possible. The bones of the lower jaw are not fused at the front, enabling the snake’s lower jaw to widen to make room for its meal. The skin stretches.

The quadrate bone, loosely attached on each side of the joint, enables the snake’s lower jaws to move independently side to side. And the teeth? A snake’s teeth are angled toward the throat and act as hooks to prevent live prey from wiggling loose. The snake uses these teeth to help “walk” the prey down its throat.

Snake teeth are attached to the bone and can grow back when lost. A snake may have several sets of teeth throughout its lifetime.

A snake swallows the prey’s head first, and produces lots of saliva to ease the prey down its throat. In some cases, it may take more than an hour for the snake to swallow an animal. Once the prey has been swallowed, the snake reconnects its bottom jaw with a wide yawn. Remember, the snake’s jaws were designed to do this, so it doesn’t hurt.

How does the snake breathe while its mouth and throat are full? The windpipe can be pushed forward over the tongue and out the mouth so the snake’s airway is not blocked.—Dawn/ The LAT-WP News Service (c) The Washington Post