REPTILES AS PREDATORS AND PREY

As predators :

Predators (PREH-duh-ters) are animals that hunt and kill other animals for food. Many reptiles hunt by ambush, which means that they find a good hiding spot or lie very still and wait for a prey animal to happen by. Then they lunge out and grab their prey. Other reptiles hunt by foraging, when they crawl, slither, or swim about looking for something to eat. Many reptiles, including lizards and turtles, simply snap their mouths around the prey and swallow it. Crocodiles and alligators clamp their jaws around larger prey, such as deer, drag them underwater to drown, and then tear off hunks of flesh. Snakes usually swallow their meals whole, often by unhinging their jaws. Many snakes are venomous, which allows them to inject a toxin into the prey to either kill it or knock it out.

Some reptiles, especially the lizards, mainly use their eyes to spot their prey. Snakes have an excellent sense of smell and are able to pick up scents from the air and from the ground with the tongue, which they flick again and again while looking for food. Some snakes, including the pit vipers, have small holes on the front of the face. These holes, or pits, are covered with a thin sheet of detectors that can pick up the heat given off by a prey animal. Snakes are also able to sense ground vibrations through the jaw bone, which connects to the ear. They can not only feel the ground move, but they can also hear it.

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As prey :

Prey are those animals that are hunted by other animals for food. Eagles, hawks, other large birds, along with some mammals, eat snakes and lizards. In fact, some snakes and lizards eat other snakes and lizards. One of the biggest threats to turtles come from mammals that dig up their nests and eat their eggs.

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