It happens that the snake begins to eat its tail, more and more deeply absorbing its own body, and eventually dies. There were also cases of cannibalism and eating their own offspring. Are they so stupid, why do snakes eat themselves?
In the process of feeding, the sense of smell is very important, which the snakes trust unconditionally. And in vain – as practice shows, it regularly brings them. If the smell of the animal on which it feeds is found on the tail of the snake, there may be a failure in the perception of its own smell and an attack on itself. Thus, poisonous snakes repeatedly bitten themselves and died from poison, others swallowed part of their body.
If two snakes were fed by one animal, then one can feel the second smell of food and eat it. There are even known cases when a snake eats a relative, which is longer than herself, though, then spews up excess.
“Samoyedstvo” snakes were seen by people back in antiquity. In Egypt, archaeologists discovered the image of a snake eating its tail. The figure is not less than 1600 years old, and the creature depicted on it is named Urboros. This snake is a symbol of eternity and cyclicity of life.
In eating offspring there is another explanation – the snake eats not the surviving cubs and some of the dead eggs to restore energy. At this time, snakes are very weak to hunt, therefore they feed on offspring. It is found out that on average snakes eat up to 11% of their own offspring. Sometimes on the tooth fall and live cubs, not in time to crawl away from the mother.
