how animals swallow other live (or dying) animals and don’t *usually* have any issues?

Question

Watching a video of an eagle swallowing a snake whole promoted this question, but I’ve always wondered it. I just don’t get how animals can swallow something that has sharp teeth, a stinger, fangs, claws, etc. live and it not damage them on the way down. Is it stomach acid? Something else I’m not factoring in?

In: 39

Answer 1

An animal which is being swallowed in general quickly suffocates and dies, because there is almost no air inside the predator’s stomach. Or else it gets crushed to death by the predator’s jaws. That said, sometimes a predator can certainly be damaged by the prey.