It's Alive Animals

Boa suffocation is merely myth

The snakes block prey’s blood flow, not breathing

Boa Snake

BE STILL MY HEART  Within just a few seconds of looping around a lab rat, a boa constrictor squeezes enough to halve blood pressure in a rear-leg artery.

BCBOY30/iStockphoto 

By Susan Milius

- More than 2 years ago

Boa constrictors don’t so much suffocate prey as break their hearts. It turns out that the snakes kill like demon blood pressure cuffs, squeezing down circulation to its final stop.