Do Any Animals Survive Being Swallowed Alive?

Seafood fans know that the way to ensure the very freshest seafood is to consume it before it actually dies, although relatively few can bring themselves to do that. However, animals besides humans eat live prey every day. You have to wonder what that unfortunate meal goes through and exactly what kills it inside the consumer's body. While Today I Found Out explains that process, they also address the question of whether it is possible to survive being swallowed alive. It depends on the animal, both the predator and the prey, and the answers are both gross and informative.   

For example, the Tornatellides boeningi snail of Japan’s Hahajima Island are known to have a small chance of surviving an entire trip through a bird’s digestive system after being eaten. We like to imagine this process leaves the snail’s shell with a shiny new buff job, though it probably never smells quite the same.

As to how often they survive, Shinichiro Wada and his colleagues at Tohoku University found that, when these snails were fed to bird species native to Hahajima Island, about 15% of them survived the trip, with one of them even giving birth after the journey.

There are other examples, including prey that have managed to fight their way out, which you can read about at Today I Found Out.


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Hmmm...well. I guess there's now one reason I can be thankful for some of the side-effects of working in retail for years, because it's honed my politely-ending-conversations-and-quickly-getting-away skills!

Body language helps a lot, use it!
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I just close my eyes, cover my ears and start screaming while counting up... I usually open an eye to have a peek when I'm around 15 seconds and most times the other person is gone. However, sometimes people don't know how to react and will stand there and stare at me, unable to process what is going on. If by 30 seconds (second peek) the person is still there, I'll start running away as fast as I can while still covering my ears and counting (eyes should be open at that point tho, I tried with eyes closed once and it didn't end well, I was stuck with the person for 20 minutes until ambulance arrived). If by 45 seconds the person followed me when I ran away, well by then they deserve a conversation, so I'll stop running and screaming and just invite them to my house for coffee. Not a lot of people come to my house.
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@everwhere

right, because they've got the exclusive rights to intentionally crudely drawn comics on the internet?

i've read the entirety of both the oatmeal and hyperbole and a half. they are not the same, nor is one a 'rip off' of the other. they are sovereign entities.

how's *your* awesome website that you make enough money to live off of going?

that's what i thought.
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