Being Eaten

[LastMagicBean]

I feel sure there was a report I read once about a shark being cut open, only to reveal a small, but complete, filipino fisherman !

How was his occupation determined?

He was still sitting in his boat...????

No... He was a missing local fisherman, from memory, who was recognized by other local fishermen after cutting him out WHOLE.

I'll try and find the story again.

Now if they had said........... they had cut him out, still alive and still smoking his fag, then I may have thought...... b*llocks.

 

[Mickymoody]

The 'Great Oracle', is fed information by runners, and many of the 'information' provided by him on the QI show is incorect.

However in this case he was referring to a plankton feeder, so not referring to every breed of whale. What Stephen Fry says isn't correct. He's an actor, gameshow host, internet poster. Nothing more.

 

[Chud]

We all know that in Nature most creatures are eaten by others and a lot of times they are swallowed whole and still alive . It got me wondering that would the live creature that has just been swallowed die immediately by the stomach acid of the diner or would it be suffocated etc.

Apologies for being a bit gruesome at tea time but does anyone know what actually happens.

Generally speaking the creatures are not often swallowed alive - there are only a few instances of this where it is common - mainly fish and a few birds (that swallow fish whole).

Based on what a few of the other responses have been there seems to be a bot of confusion so here's a few examples of feeding habits:

Crocodiles - can't chew and will swallow small prey whole, however given the bite force of crocodilians any such small prey is very likely dead from crushing/tooth penetration injuries. Larger prey like wildebeest is often drowned by being held underwater or the croc will seize them by the snout, holding the nose/mouth shut thereby suffocating them. The large animal is then generally left somewhere underwater to soften/rot a bit until the meat is tender enough to be torn from the carcass and swallowed in chunks.

Snakes (constrictors) - it used to be thought that constrictors killed by suffocation/asphyxiation but current evidence points to the constriction causing embolisms and cardiac arrest by raising the blood pressure dangerously high. The burst snake in the everglades is likely to have burst either because alligators are quite sharp/spikey and it really was eating something just that bit too big or it was attacked by another gator etc. as it was trying to swallow. Either way the gator it was eating was most likely dead.

Big Cats - generally kill before they eat however you do see some instances of lions starting to feed whilst another is still killing the prey - Lions and Tigers favour a suffocating bite around the throat from the front/underneath crushing/closing the windpipe and causing death via asphyxiation. Leopards generally favour a bite to the back of the neck with the canine teeth dislocating and breaking the neck. Jaguars favour a bite to the back of the skull with obvious and instant results!

 

[Bahco]

What about frog or turtles that are swallowed whole by herons and other big birds. Also fish too...........They are swallowed live. I would hope that they would die instantly too.

Not nice to think that some creature wants to turn your body parts into poo!

 

[russella]

The 'Great Oracle', is fed information by runners, and many of the 'information' provided by him on the QI show is incorect.

However in this case he was referring to a plankton feeder, so not referring to every breed of whale. What Stephen Fry says isn't correct. He's an actor, gameshow host, internet poster. Nothing more.

Booooo! Don't spoil the illusion for me! They keep a list of all the viewer corrections on a website somewhere don't they? Remember once they nicked points off someone for getting the freezing point of water 0.5-odd degrees off in a previous episode after someone complained.

Russ

 

[ColJack]

given that a fish would probably be swallowed with a quantity of water also, there's a chance that it would be digested alive.. or at least partially digested..

 

[Mickymoody]

given that a fish would probably be swallowed with a quantity of water also, there's a chance that it would be digested alive.. or at least partially digested..

I think that's the general point of meat eating fish, they expel the water through their gills?

The point of a plankton feeder is to suck in a load of water, then filter it, to retrieve the plankton.

 

[ColJack]

I was thinking more along the lines of pelicans etc where they scoop up a fish and swallow it..

 

[sooey]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arpIBn7AH_0

Don't watch if you're squemish.