What type of diet is ophiophagy, notably practiced by the king cobra?
"evolved as an adaptation to predation by venomous snakes in their habitat. In Rudyard Kipling's ""The Jungle Book"", the author correctly dismisses the idea of mongooses ingesting herbs to combat poison as old folklore. He attributes no special abilities to the animal other than superb agility and skill at avoiding being bitten. However, recent studies have shown that the mongoose's ability to resist snake venom is at least in part due to its modified nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AcChoR) that does not bind with alpha-BTX, and alpha-neurotoxin (Barchan et al. 1992). Ophiophagy Ophiophagy (Greek ""snake eating"") is a specialized form of"
"""Ophiophagus"" is a Greek-derived word that means ""snake-eater"". Its diet consists primarily of other snakes, including rat snakes, pythons, and even other venomous snakes such as various members of the true cobras and the krait. Its most common prey is the rat snake, and it also hunts Malabar pit viper and hump-nosed pit viper by following the snakes' odour trails. When food is scarce, it also feeds on other small vertebrates, such as lizards, birds, and rodents. In some cases, the cobra constricts its prey, such as birds and larger rodents, using its muscular body, though this is uncommon. After"
"Oophagy Oophagy ( ) sometimes ovophagy, literally ""egg eating"", is the practice of embryos feeding on eggs produced by the ovary while still inside the mother's uterus. The word oophagy is formed from the classical Greek ᾠόν (ōion, egg) and classical Greek φᾱγεῖν (phāgein, to eat). In contrast, adelphophagy is the cannibalism of a multi-celled embryo. Oophagy is thought to occur in all sharks in the order Lamniformes and has been recorded in the bigeye thresher (""Alopias superciliosus""), the pelagic thresher (""A. pelagicus""), the shortfin mako (""Isurus oxyrinchus"") and the porbeagle (""Lamna nasus"") among others. It also occurs in the"
"and crocodile eggs. Water monitors have been observed eating catfish in a fashion similar to a mammalian carnivore, tearing off chunks of meat with their sharp teeth while holding it with their front legs and then separating different parts of the fish for sequential consumption. In dominantly aquatic habitats their semi-aquatic behavior is considered to provide a measure of safety from predators. This paired with their generalist diet is thought to contribute to their ecological plasticity. When hunted by predators such as the King cobra (""Ophiophagus Hannah"") they will climb up trees using their powerful legs and claws. If this"
"Ophanin Ophanin is a toxin found in the venom of the King Cobra (""Ophiophagus hannah""), which lives throughout South East Asia. This toxin belongs to the cysteine-rich secretory protein (CRISP) family. Ophanin weakly blocks the contraction of smooth muscles elicited by high potassium-induced depolarization, suggesting that it inhibits voltage-dependent calcium channels. The toxin was named ""ophanin"" after the snake whose venom it is derived from, the King Cobra (""Ophiophagus hannah""). Ophanin is produced in the venom glands of the King Cobra (""O. Hannah""). Although the venom has relatively low toxicity, this is compensated by the high amounts of it injected"
"Omophagia Omophagia, or omophagy (from Greek ""raw"") is the eating of raw flesh. The term is of importance in the context of the cult worship of Dionysus. Omophagia is a large element of Dionysiac myth; in fact, one of Dionysus' epithets is ""Omophagos"" ""Raw-Eater"". Omophagia may have been a symbol of the triumph of wild nature over civilization, and a symbol of the breaking down of boundaries between nature and civilization. It might also have been symbolic that the worshippers were internalizing Dionysus’ wilder traits and his association with brute nature, in a sort of “communion” with the god. Mythology"
"Oligophagy Oligophagy refers to the eating of only a few specific foods. The term is usually associated with insect dietary behaviour. Organisms may exhibit narrow or specific oligophagy where the diet is restricted to a very few foods or broad oligophagy where the organism feeds on a wide variety of specific foods but none other. Polyphagy, on the contrary, refers to eating a broad spectrum of foods. In the insect world it refers usually to insects that feed on plants belonging to different families. The diet of the yucca moths is restricted to the developing fruits of species of yucca"
"while the sea hare, ""Aplysia juliana"" (Quoy & Gaimard), is found on and feeds only on a single alga, ""Ulva lactuca"" (Linnaeus) in east Australian waters. These are both narrow oligophages. Conversely the migratory locust may be said to be broadly oligophagous or even polyphagous. Oligophagy Oligophagy refers to the eating of only a few specific foods. The term is usually associated with insect dietary behaviour. Organisms may exhibit narrow or specific oligophagy where the diet is restricted to a very few foods or broad oligophagy where the organism feeds on a wide variety of specific foods but none other."
"Saprophagy Saprophages are olophages that obtain nutrients by consuming decomposing dead plant or animal biomass. They are distinguished from detritivores in that saprophages are sessile consumers while detritivore are mobile. Typical saprophagic animals include sedentary polychaetes such as amphitrites (""Amphitritinae"", worms of the family Terebellidae) and other terebellids. The eating of wood, whether live or dead, is known as xylophagy. Τhe activity of animals feeding only on dead wood is called sapro-xylophagy and those animals, sapro-xylophagous. In food webs, saprophages generally play the roles of decomposers. There are two main branches of saprophges, broken down by nutrient source. There are"
"King cobra The king cobra (""Ophiophagus hannah""), also known as the hamadryad, is a venomous snake species in the family Elapidae, endemic to forests from India through Southeast Asia. It is threatened by habitat destruction and has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 2010. It is the world's longest venomous snake. Adult king cobras are long. The longest known individual measured . Despite the word ""cobra"" in its common name, this species does not belong to genus ""Naja"" but is the sole member of its own. It preys chiefly on other snakes and occasionally on some"
"Xylophagy Xylophagy is a term used in ecology to describe the habits of an herbivorous animal whose diet consists primarily (often solely) of wood. The word derives from Greek ""ξυλοφάγος"" (""xulophagos"") ""eating wood"", from ""ξύλον"" (""xulon"") ""wood"" and ""φαγεῖν"" (""phagein"") ""to eat"", an ancient Greek name for a kind of a worm-eating bird. Animals feeding only on dead wood are called sapro-xylophagous or saproxylic. Most such animals are arthropods, primarily insects of various kinds, in which the behavior is quite common, and found in many different orders. It is not uncommon for insects to specialize to various degrees; in some"
"possibly due to the unnecessary expending of energy and resources. This behavior has also been observed in some bee species. Bee species include ""Xylocopa sulcatipes"" and ""Bombus ruderatus"", where queen bees will eat the larva deposited by workers or ejected them from the nest in order to maintain dominance over the female workers. Oophagy Oophagy ( ) sometimes ovophagy, literally ""egg eating"", is the practice of embryos feeding on eggs produced by the ovary while still inside the mother's uterus. The word oophagy is formed from the classical Greek ᾠόν (ōion, egg) and classical Greek φᾱγεῖν (phāgein, to eat). In"
"Oophaga Oophaga is a genus of poison-dart frogs containing nine species, many of which were formerly placed in the genus ""Dendrobates"". The frogs are distributed in Central and South America, from Nicaragua through the Colombian El Choco to northern Ecuador (at elevations below ). Their habitats vary with some species being arboreal while other being terrestrial, but the common feature is that their tadpoles are obligate egg feeders. ""Oophaga"", Greek for ""egg eater"" (""oon"", """"), is descriptive of the tadpoles' diet. While presumably all dendrobatids show parental care, this is unusually advanced in ""Oophaga"": the tadpoles feed exclusively on unfertilized"
"necrophages which consume dead animal biomass, and thanatophages which consume dead plant biomass. Saprophagy Saprophages are olophages that obtain nutrients by consuming decomposing dead plant or animal biomass. They are distinguished from detritivores in that saprophages are sessile consumers while detritivore are mobile. Typical saprophagic animals include sedentary polychaetes such as amphitrites (""Amphitritinae"", worms of the family Terebellidae) and other terebellids. The eating of wood, whether live or dead, is known as xylophagy. Τhe activity of animals feeding only on dead wood is called sapro-xylophagy and those animals, sapro-xylophagous. In food webs, saprophages generally play the roles of decomposers. There"
"Durophagy Durophagy is the eating behavior of animals that consume hard-shelled or exoskeleton bearing organisms, such as corals, shelled mollusks, or crabs. It is mostly used to describe fish, but is also used when describing reptiles, including fossil turtles, placodonts and invertebrates, as well as ""bone-crushing"" mammalian carnivores such as hyenas. Durophagy requires special adaptions, such as blunt, strong teeth and a heavy jaw. Bite force is necessary to overcome the physical constraints of consuming more durable prey and gain a competitive advantage over other organisms by gaining access to more diverse or exclusive food resources earlier in life. Those"
"Algophagy Algophagy is a feeding behaviour whereby an animal eats algae as a food source. Algae is a group of photosynthetic organisms that mostly rely on aquatic environments. They grow low to the ground as they lack vascular tissue, an adaptation postdating their origin. While the group of algal species is large, it is generally accepted that algae is high in nutritional value and often contain a variety of concentrated vitamins and minerals. Algophagy as a feeding behaviour was first noted in literature by Deonier (1972) in their explanation of feeding habits of shore flies ""Diptera ephydridae."" In this context,"
"bodies in a weekly inoculation that potentially might protect them from the snake, though no scientific evidence supports this. Cobra stones or gems or pearls are believed to develop from the cobra's hood. King cobra The king cobra (""Ophiophagus hannah""), also known as the hamadryad, is a venomous snake species in the family Elapidae, endemic to forests from India through Southeast Asia. It is threatened by habitat destruction and has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 2010. It is the world's longest venomous snake. Adult king cobras are long. The longest known individual measured . Despite"
"of the two consumed plant foods. This was replicated in other studies such as that of Baeta, Cabral, Marques, and Pardal (2006) which also found these results nearly 40 years later. This marks yet another incidence of invertebrate algophagy feeding, adding to the growing body of literature to explain this behaviour. Algophagy has been observed in a variety of vertebrate species, such as the chimpanzee, species of sheep, and also in the common chicken. The chimpanzee is a primate in the same family as humans and are native to sub-Saharan Africa. While many chimpanzees are naturally hydrophobic, Sakamaki (1998) found"
"with greater bite forces require less time to consume certain prey items as a greater bite force can increase the net rate of energy intake when foraging and enhance fitness in durophagous species. In the order Carnivora there are two dietary categories of durophagy; bonecrackers and bamboo eaters. Bonecrackers are exemplified by hyenas and saber-toothed cats, while bamboo eaters are primarily the giant panda and the red panda. Both have developed similar cranial morphology. However, the mandible morphology reveals more about their dietary resources. Both have a raised and dome-like anterior cranium, enlarged areas for the attachment of masticatory muscles,"
"Russian writer Vladimir Sorokin's novel ""Norma"" describes a society where coprophagia is institutionalised and mandatory. Coprophagia Coprophagia () or coprophagy () is the consumption of feces. The word is derived from the Greek κόπρος ""copros"", ""feces"" and φαγεῖν ""phagein"", ""to eat"". ""Coprophagy"" refers to many kinds of feces-eating, including eating feces of other species (heterospecifics), of other individuals (allocoprophagy), or one's own (autocoprophagy) – those once deposited or taken directly from the anus. In humans, coprophagia has been described in individuals with mental illnesses, as well as an unconventional sexual act since the late nineteenth century. Some animal species eat"
"Xerophagy Xerophagy (""dry eating"", from Greek ""dry"" and ""eat"") is the practice of eating dry food, especially food cooked without oil. In Eastern Christianity, xerophagy is the form of fasting observed during Great Lent and certain other fasts, in which vegetables cooked with water and salt are eaten, together with such things as fruit, nuts, bread and sometimes honey. It many cases in that tradition it can be considered an extreme form of veganism. In some historic and modern military organizations, it may be used as a disciplinary measure; e.g. In the 35 Canons of Saint John the Faster, the"
"fibers. Such insects often carry the spores of the fungi in special structures on their bodies (called ""mycangia""), and infect the host tree themselves when they are laying their eggs. Xylophagy Xylophagy is a term used in ecology to describe the habits of an herbivorous animal whose diet consists primarily (often solely) of wood. The word derives from Greek ""ξυλοφάγος"" (""xulophagos"") ""eating wood"", from ""ξύλον"" (""xulon"") ""wood"" and ""φαγεῖν"" (""phagein"") ""to eat"", an ancient Greek name for a kind of a worm-eating bird. Animals feeding only on dead wood are called sapro-xylophagous or saproxylic. Most such animals are arthropods, primarily"
"pair of large scales known as occipitals, located at the back of the top of the head. These are behind the usual ""nine-plate"" arrangement typical of colubrids and elapids, and are unique to the king cobra. The skin of king cobra is dark olive or brown with black bands and white or yellow crossbands. The head is black with two crossbars near the snout and two behind the eyes. Adult king cobras are long. The longest known individual measured . Its belly is cream or pale yellow. It has 17 to 19 rows of smooth scales. Ventral scales are uniformly"
"and doves with which the parents feed their young by regurgitation. Many sharks have the ability to turn their stomachs inside out and evert it out of their mouths in order to get rid of unwanted contents (perhaps developed as a way to reduce exposure to toxins). Other animals, such as rabbits and rodents, practise coprophagia behaviours – eating specialised faeces in order to re-digest food, especially in the case of roughage. Capybara, rabbits, hamsters and other related species do not have a complex digestive system as do, for example, ruminants. Instead they extract more nutrition from grass by giving"
"it is one of the most dangerous African snakes to be kept as many captive forest cobras are described to be particularly aggressive when handled. This species is not able to ""spit"" its venom. Forest cobras will feed on a wide variety of prey, including amphibians, fish, other snakes, monitor lizards and other lizards, bird eggs, rodents, and other small mammals. It has been recorded as taking mudskippers, and in west Africa, one specimen had eaten a Gifford's giant shrew, an insectivore with a smell so noxious, most other snakes would not touch it. This is an oviparous species. In"
"and cephalopods (squid and octopus) making up the remaining portion. The large number of reef fishes suggests it spends much of its time foraging over shallow-water reef habitats, but the presence of squid and the schooling carangid ""Decapterus macarellus"" indicates exploitation of more open-water habitats, as well. Off Africa, the diet is similar, consisting mostly of fish including eels, with minor squid, octopus, mantis shrimp, lobsters and other crustaceans. Younger fish inside Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii showed the only instance where crustaceans were preferred over fish; stomatopods, shrimp and crabs were the most common prey taken at 89% of stomach content"
"back far behind the level of the condyles to provide attachments for the relatively enormous temporalis muscles, creating a powerful bite force. Durophagy Durophagy is the eating behavior of animals that consume hard-shelled or exoskeleton bearing organisms, such as corals, shelled mollusks, or crabs. It is mostly used to describe fish, but is also used when describing reptiles, including fossil turtles, placodonts and invertebrates, as well as ""bone-crushing"" mammalian carnivores such as hyenas. Durophagy requires special adaptions, such as blunt, strong teeth and a heavy jaw. Bite force is necessary to overcome the physical constraints of consuming more durable prey"
"be semi-aquatic. The forest cobra is a generalist in its feeding habits, having a highly varied diet: anything from large insects to small mammals and other reptiles. This species is alert, nervous and is considered to be a very dangerous snake. When cornered or molested, it will assume the typical cobra warning posture by raising its fore body off the ground, spreading a narrow hood, and hissing loudly. Bites to humans are less common than from other African cobras due to various factors, though a bite from this species is a life-threatening emergency. The forest cobra is classified in the"
"that climbs well and is one of the most aquatic of the true cobras of the genus ""Naja"". It is terrestrial, but it is fast, graceful climber, known to ascend trees to a height of or more. It is quick moving and alert. It swims well and readily takes to the water; in some areas its main diet is fish and could be regarded as semi-aquatic. Although it is active mostly during the day (diurnal) in uninhabited areas, it can also be active by night (nocturnal) where it goes into urban areas. When not active, it takes cover in holes,"
"capuchin, guira cuckoo, and false coral snake. This species is omnivorous, eating invertebrates and plant material. It favors ants, and on plants it prefers the fruits and flowers. It commonly eats the fruit of ""Chomelia obtusa"", higuerón, and smilaxes. It especially favors the fruit of little coca during the summer. The male of the species is territorial. The male performs signalling behaviors such as head-bobbing and tail-whipping and exhibits aggressive behaviors such as chasing and fighting with other males. Larger, faster males tend to dominate higher-quality territories, such as those with many hiding places and abundant sunlight. Females prefer higher-quality"
"human presence in general. Their diet includes cephalopods, fish, and birds. Octopus and arrow squid make up most of their cephalopod diet. Individuals located near their southern range limit have been known to eat penguins as part of their diet. Stomach contents have been analysed and shown to include anchovy, barracuda, flounder, hagfish, lamprey, red cod, school shark, and many other species. Further analysis of otoliths from their scat show that for fish prey species, lantern fish composed the majority of their fish diet, followed by anchovies, pink cod, and hoki. There are different factors that affect their diet, such"
"penance for any monk caught in homosexual acts includes a xerophagic diet for three years along with other punishments. Xerophagy Xerophagy (""dry eating"", from Greek ""dry"" and ""eat"") is the practice of eating dry food, especially food cooked without oil. In Eastern Christianity, xerophagy is the form of fasting observed during Great Lent and certain other fasts, in which vegetables cooked with water and salt are eaten, together with such things as fruit, nuts, bread and sometimes honey. It many cases in that tradition it can be considered an extreme form of veganism. In some historic and modern military organizations,"
"on average concentrations. Many types of basal eukaryotes, particularly Fungi and Protista, are osmotrophic. Example of these types of organisms are tapeworms and ""Trypanasoma"". Osmotrophy Osmotrophy is the uptake of dissolved organic compounds by osmosis for nutrition. Organisms that use osmotrophy are osmotrophs. Some mixotrophic microorganisms use osmotrophy to derive energy. The organisms that used osmotrophy are known to be an osmotrophs which are usually found in protists and fungi although exclusively osmotrophic feeding in contemporary ecosystems are restricted to microscopic bacteria thereby used the process of osmosis for the movement of food although some macroscopic animals like molluscs, sponges,"