During a performance at an amusement park in China’s Zhejiang province, this man let two snakes crawl up his nose and out through his mouth. Onlookers were shocked.
How was this twisted trick possible? The nose’s nasal passages connect to the mouth via a tubelike structure called the pharynx.
The pharynx allows air to pass from the nose and mouth into the lungs. It also allows food to travel down the esophagus (food pipe) to the stomach. These snakes traveled through the performer’s nostrils, down the pharynx, and out of his mouth. “It’s almost a 180-degree turn,” says Dr. John Edwards, an otolaryngologist who treats disorders of the ear, nose, and throat, in San Antonio, Texas.
The pharynx is only about 11 millimeters (0.4 inches) wide. It’s a tight fit, but the reptiles are probably unharmed during the stunt, says Terry Phillip, a snake handler from Reptile Gardens, a wild animal park in Rapid City, South Dakota. A snake’s ribs connect to its backbone but not to a breastbone in the front like other vertebrates, such as humans. This adaptation allows a snake to expand the circumference of its ribs when eating a big meal or contract it to squeeze through narrow spaces, says Phillip.
Why would snakes willingly slither up someone’s nose in the first place? “Snakes get stressed out when they’re used for shows,” says Phillip. “So when they’re offered an opportunity to hide in a dark hole—like a nostril—they take it.”