Snakes insert their heads into living frogs' bodies to swallow their organs (because nature is horrifying) - Livescience.com

For knife-toothed kukri snakes, the tastiest parts of a frog are its organs, preferably sliced out of the body cavity and eaten while the frog is still alive.

After observing this grisly habit for the first time in Thailand, scientists have spotted two more kukri snake species that feast on the organs of living frogs and toads.

The scientists documented a Taiwanese kukri snake (Oligodon formosanus) and an ocellated kukri snake (Oligodon ocellatus) pursuing amphibian organ meals, tearing open frogs' and toads' abdomens and burying their heads inside, according to the studies.

There are 83 species of kukri snakes in the Oligodon genus in Asia.

Snake and frog tussled for about 40 minutes; the snake performed about 15 body rotations, or "death rolls," during the battle, according to the study. .

A second Taiwanese kukri snake was discovered on Oct.

The third attack on a bubble frog was by a small-banded kukri snake — the species that was first documented exhibiting this behavior — on Sept.

Another study, published on the same day in Herpetozoa, presented an observation of an ocellated kukri snake feasting on an Asian common toad (Duttaphrynus melanostictus) inside a lodge in a national park in southern Vietnam.

In the 2020 study about small-banded kukri snakes eviscerating Asian common toads, the scientists hypothesized that the snakes selectively ate the organs to avoid the toads' deadly toxins.

However, the ocellated kukri snake swallowed the toad after its organ appetizer, hinting that the snakes might have some natural resistance to the toads' poison. .

"We hope that future observations may uncover additional aspects of the fascinating feeding habits of kukri snakes — though we may indeed call them gruesome!" Bringsøe said in the statement