How Snakes Survive Starvation

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University of Arkansas researcher Marshall McCue studied Western timber rattlesnakes and two other species and found that they could lower their standard metabolic rates - a trait never seen before in vertebrates. Photo by James VanDyke.
University of Arkansas researcher Marshall McCue studied Western timber rattlesnakes and two other species and found that they could lower their standard metabolic rates - a trait never seen before in vertebrates. Photo by James VanDyke.

Starving snakes employ novel survival strategies not seen before in vertebrates, according to research conducted by a University of Arkansas biologist. These findings could be used in conservation strategies to determine the health of snake populations.


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