Suffocation–I hope? Chemical, ie, that it is slowly burned to death with acids?
I’ve often wondered about the death experience/agonies in the wild. I remember here a thread on whether or not the (comforting) idea that animals being mortally attacked enter some sort of non-conscious state is a comforting idea but false.
:: shudder ::
When feeding frogs to pet snakes, I have seen evidence that frogs sometimes survive the swallowing process, but not for long. I would guess that gastric juices on skin that is permeable enough for oxygen transfer puts out the lights pretty quickly.
Frogs do a lot of their respiration through the skin, and they don’t need a lot of oxygen anyway. I suspect most frogs that are swallowed whole will succumb to stomach acid before they suffocate.
The vast majority of animals in the wild suffer pretty brutal deaths. Some may be killed quickly by predators, but others will be eaten alive, sometimes piecemeal. Perhaps they sometimes may go into shock and be relatively unaware of the pain, but I have no reason to suppose that death is usually painless.
It doesn’t appear to have actually entered the fish’s stomach. And the cloudy eyes are probably due to it having raised its nictitating membranes (semitransparent eyelids) to protect its eyes.
Yes I thought of that (the stomach part, not the nictitating [if that’s a verb], for which I thank you), but I quickly thought of its inevitable destination.
Yes I thought of that (the stomach part, not the nictitating [if that’s a verb], for which I thank you), but I quickly thought of its inevitable destination. And actually sort of realized with a bad sense what a slow death in acid might be, and hoped it had suffocated in the fish’s mouth.
I’m saying “slow” because I think the acid is relatively weak, but still, you know, acid. Given my feelings, a situation where a super-strong acid would be fast would be less painful for the killed animal.
Is my understanding of “slow” more or less correct?
Are there situations where an overwhelming acid kills quickly (non protozoan death, etc.)?
When we lived in Texas, the local toads had a number of near-death experiences thanks to our not very bright spaniel.
Bubba used to pick up toads and hold them in his mouth. The bad taste was convincing enough for him not to eat them, but he was reluctant to let them go. With coaxing, he’d eventually disgorge a soggy and unhappy toad, slightly the worse for wear.*
*“My amphibious life flashed before my bug-eyes!”