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Here's a brilliant creature that likes eggs. In fact, that's all it eats!
It swallows them whole, shell and all.
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And what's even more amazing is that it can swallow an egg that's eight times the size of its own head!
That'd be the same as Stephen swallowing the egg you can see here.
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The creature in question is the african egg eating snake.
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This dove's egg contains all the goodness that the egg eating snake requires to live.
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Because these snakes only eat every few weeks, it's very difficult to catch the moment the egg is devoured on camera.
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But after two years of trying, we finally managed to record it!
In the amazing sequence, the snake first sizes up the egg using its mouth and tongue.
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It looks impossible but then suddenly the snake opens its mouth, dislocates its jaws and starts to force its mouth over and around the egg!
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All the time the snake lubricates the egg with spit and pushes its head forward to engulf it.
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The snake's head is so small and the egg is so big that its skin stretches so much that each blood vessel is visible.
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Eventually, the egg is swallowed - whole!
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Next, the snake uses a sharp bone in its spine to pierce the egg, letting the yolk drain down into its body.
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The empty shell is of no use to the snake, so it needs to get rid of it.
The snake compacts the empty shell into a perfect package and then regurgitates it! Eww!
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