You Try Constricting Your Prey and Breathing at the Same Time

When a boa constrictor coils its midriff around a wriggling rat, it’s easy to feel sorry for the soon-to-be-lifeless rodent, its blood supply so blocked that its heart stops pumping.

But consider, too, the plight of the snake. The curly-fry crush of a boa—which can exert pressures of up to 25 pounds per square inch—doesn’t just squish the life out of its prey. It also compresses the predator, putting an epic squeeze on the parts of the body that harbor the snake’s heart and the upper portions of its lungs and gut, sometimes for up to 45 minutes at a time.

“The entire front third of the body gets involved,” which, smooshing their chests from the outside, then the inside, breathing easy all the while. Capano has a particular way of describing this curious phenomenon, which has mystified snake aficionados for years: “How does one rib cage kill another rib cage without hurting itself?”