zoo-logic: Incredible new findings show that the organs of the Burmese python (Python molurus bivittatus), including the heart, grow up to twice their normal size each time a snake consumes a meal - the bigger the prey, the bigger the organs become in order to digest it. By just 12 hours after the kill is made, the organs have begun to grow, and they peak at their maximum size at around 76 hours, before returning to normal at around ten days. Whilst the organs are enlarged, metabolic rate is boosted to an astounding 40 times greater than normal - the equivalent of the increase seen in a racehorse when galloping compared to at rest - except in the Burmese python, this lasts for days on end, rather than just minutes. Studying the physiological basis of this amazing rapid addition and removal of tissue to the body’s organs could prove clinically useful, including in learning to treat atrophy-based heart disease in cancer patients and astronauts as well as in reducing size in disease-enlarged hearts.Ref: Rizzo J., 2012. Gross Anatomy. National Geographic Magazine August 2012

zoo-logic:

Incredible new findings show that the organs of the Burmese python (Python molurus bivittatus), including the heart, grow up to twice their normal size each time a snake consumes a meal - the bigger the prey, the bigger the organs become in order to digest it. By just 12 hours after the kill is made, the organs have begun to grow, and they peak at their maximum size at around 76 hours, before returning to normal at around ten days. Whilst the organs are enlarged, metabolic rate is boosted to an astounding 40 times greater than normal - the equivalent of the increase seen in a racehorse when galloping compared to at rest - except in the Burmese python, this lasts for days on end, rather than just minutes. Studying the physiological basis of this amazing rapid addition and removal of tissue to the body’s organs could prove clinically useful, including in learning to treat atrophy-based heart disease in cancer patients and astronauts as well as in reducing size in disease-enlarged hearts.

Ref: Rizzo J., 2012. Gross Anatomy. National Geographic Magazine August 2012

440 notes
Posted on Wednesday, 26 September
Reblogged from: theamphibiouscow
Posted by: zoo-logic
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    That is so fucking cool holy shit.
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    Another amazing thing a snake can do. Such astounding creatures.
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