Naga Digestive Behavior

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stomach is so powerful and yet no serious problems(heart burn)?

In all fairness, most of that increased power is just because the volume and power of the preds' stomach acid is scaled up with them, and they are part-animal, making their digestive systems a bit tougher and more powerful than a human's. Nagas do tend to have stronger stomachs than other preds, but not by some extreme amount, i don't think.

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Oh and the part about grenades? That really goes for any predator I believe. Grenades aren't going to burst a pred's stomach or anything.

Yep. It may make them flinch in pain, and startle them a little, but the standard anti-personel fragmentation grenade just lacks the power to do any real damage to the thick, muscular walls of a scaled up stomach.

Well you underestimate the power of the human digestive system there. Its true that there are animals better at digestion in one aspect or another, the humans ability to handle a wider range of food stuffs (many fairly toxic like garlic) with little problem is impressive in its own way.

Archmage_Bael wrote:

I'm dealing with nagas right now, besides Nagas are supposed to be the most voracious. Also, that doesn't make sense. Both stomachs are connected, how does one digest faster than the other? That circles back to what I said about difference in PH levels of the acids specific to the stomach.

Others have mentions parts of this before, but to summarize:

• If the stomach acid does not easily travel from one stomach to the other, or if the "lower" stomach has higher digestive power than the "upper" one, it is entirely possible for one stomach to digest faster than the other.
  
• Each of the stomachs may have a different mix of digestive enzymes; the upper stomach may be unable to digest bones as quickly as the lower one (or at all), or hair, or other substances. This would lead to different apparent digestion rates.
  
• Its also possible that the difference in digestion speed is simply because the smaller bits of food have a higher surface area to volume ratio, meaning that more of them gets digested per unit of time. The same basic effect is the reason why pooled gasoline burns, but aerosolized gasoline violently explodes.
  

Heh.... would be quite interesting if a giant naga ate a human sized prey but was "full" in the small stomach so then the prey would end up in the large snake stomach.


That would be a pretty large space for the prey, easily enough for them to walk around.....until they suffocate.



Genuine question: How do these two stomachs interact/connect with the "exit" hole?

Actually that brings up another question..... If a creature small enough made it into the large stomach....could they potentially survive the ordeal by making it out the rear end?

Well, I think the stomachs are connected in series so I can't see how someone could avoid the first no matter how full it is. Even then I'd doubt they make it through the second stomach. I'm sure you know what comes after the stomachs. There's no chance of coming out in the shape you went in, at least in my mind.

I always sort of assumed if they ate something big it just totally bypassed the first stomach, and if they ate something smaller it just sort of digested in the first one, and ran through the second one without it really needing to 'warm up'.
Saves energy.

X wrote:

I always sort of assumed if they ate something big it just totally bypassed the first stomach, and if they ate something smaller it just sort of digested in the first one, and ran through the second one without it really needing to 'warm up'.
Saves energy.

Pretty much.

The two stomachs are one continuous organ that has been compartmentalized. The smaller stomach is located in the human half, and is reserved for smaller prey, and is similar in size and function to a human stomach. When the food is digested, it just passes through the second stomach briefly on its way to the intestines.

If the naga eats a very large meal, it will pass through the first stomach and on into the second one, located in the naga's tail. This second stomach is much larger, and better suited to digesting large meals.

So if a naga ate a small meal, then a large one right after, would the contents of the small meal be dumped into the large stomach?

Also.... how big are we talking in the 2nd stomach? Because when I think of a snake's stomach, it runs along the majority of the snake's body doesn't it? Is it the same with nagas?


WTB "naga digestive track" sketch so I can actually know what is going on.....