Digestion

Okay, now that I can agree on both accounts, what EG said. Felarya should not change for people like me, I agree. On the issue of snakes, I am aware of that, but my point is that animal is usually dead within a couple minutes, if that. They are not alive through the digestion process.

Shadow17 wrote:

Okay, now that I can agree on both accounts, what EG said. Felarya should not change for people like me, I agree. On the issue of snakes, I am aware of that, but my point is that animal is usually dead within a couple minutes, if that. They are not alive through the digestion process.

This, I agree with. While organisms are frequently consumed alive in nature, they die long before the process of digestion really gets anywhere, be it from suffocation or the wounds sustained in their capture.

I really don't enjoy arguing, so I'm going to clarify this.

EvilGenius wrote:

Not a few, a lot. It takes a very specific set of sharp teeth to tear flesh as most would simply snap off from the strain. Funny you should bring up snakes as they are a very good example of this. Tiny, needle teeth meant to serve to get a better grip on the prey to drag it down their throat easier. They do not kill with their teeth unless it is indirectly through venom. They are somewhat of a special case since they do consume such large prey proportionately. Most simply capture and consume much smaller prey. When it is eaten it is usually whole, and often still alive as well.

Actually only the really really huge snakes have sets of teeth, like anacondas. Most of them have fangs which are angled backward to keep prey from squirming out.

Most creatures still dont eat prey whole and alive. When I say a few, I'm not saying that none can - the killer whale can (blue whales cant, they have the smallest throats ever. cant even swallow a grapefruit), frogs can, and a few others.

Oh, and stabs will love this one: The Black Swallower. Its like God and the Devil got drunk and created the most absurd animal they could. It can swallow things larger than itself. (ten bucks says stabs knows about it already, though - its too crazy for him not to have had previous knowledge of )

...However, most creatures dismember, or tear into chunks, then swallow (wolves, crocodiles, sharks, etc). A few swallow alive and whole. A few. More chew.

Now for some Hilarity, because this conversation is too serious now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnydFmqHuVo

MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Archmage_Bael wrote:

Actually only the really really huge snakes have sets of teeth, like anacondas. Most of them have fangs which are angled backward to keep prey from squirming out.

This is absolutely not true. The only snakes without teeth are snakes that eat eggs. Fangs have a single purpose and that is to deliver venom. They are far too fragile to be used to get a grip, in fact, many snakes are capable of folding their fangs back out of the way to prevent damaging them while they eat. Also, since you bring up anacondas, their prey does not "squirm out" They crush the air out of it's lungs and hold it still until it suffocates, then use their comparatively small teeth to hold on to it as they force it down their throat. They frequently consume prey so large that their skin tears from stretching around it.

Archmage_Bael wrote:

Most creatures still dont eat prey whole and alive. When I say a few, I'm not saying that none can - the killer whale can (blue whales cant, they have the smallest throats ever. cant even swallow a grapefruit), frogs can, and a few others.

Again, not true, most swallow whole, frequently still alive. The domain of chewing prey remains mostly in the mammal family. Tearing into chunks is more common, but swallowing whole and alive is seen absolutely everywhere.

To get this back on track, the point of the thread is to discuss how humans are "digested alive" in Felarya, which is completely false. A human swallowed by a giant predator would not live very long, a few minutes at best. The throat would be crushing, there would not be enough oxygen to maintain consciousness unless you have some salvalophytha, it is absurd. The painful terrible death we seem to envision is a lie, it is more like falling asleep.

I'm not sure if air can be moved into the stomach, but in some stories I read, the preds often gasped a lot of air to make their preys alive and kicking (literally) for a longer while to enjoy the sensation.

Some species does not even need the swallowing process, such as Darkness Elementals, Dusk Nymphs or Canopy Faries who can just let the preys walk "straight" into the stomach.