Snake & Rat

DRAMA NEAR TUSCALOOSA Not Cat and Mouse, but Snake & Rat

"The rat stood frozen in the corner, but Haydee (a Burmese Python) ignored her new roommate for several minutes. She slowly raised her metallic-colored head, indifferently flicking her tongue. And suddenly Haydee became a missile.

She shot across the cage, snagged the rat with her upper teeth and wrapped her thick midriff around her victim. Between Haydee’s coils, the upended rat was still visible, its back legs and tail jerking in the air. It heaved for a while with rapid breaths, then stopped."

That's from a feature story in the N.Y. Times. The headline?

Eat Rat, Make New Body: Easy Stuff for Pythons

The extreme metabolism of some snakes could provide leads on how to regenerate human tissue.

If you know me, you know I am a snakaphobe (aka Ophidiophobic), so I have no interest in driving up to Tuscaloosa to meet Haydee...or even the humans who study them. But the story is excellent...especially if you are not sssssssqueamish!