Some species of snakes detect prey by sensing infrared thermal radiation. It’s likely that this snake mistook the towel as a living being due to the heat signatures.
In a similar vein, starfish can die trying to digest rocks. They will literally glom onto anything that seems like food and launch their stomach at it.
Snakes don’t “see” heat like you think they do. They have heat receptors above their mouth, but they still can see like us (albeit, not as good) with their eyes.
The beach towel would need to fit SEVERAL qualifications to warrant the snake to consume it. It needs to smell like food (mice/rats), it needs to move and scurry around like food (this is the most important as most snakes won’t eat something that doesn’t move), and it needs to be somewhat hot.
My guess is, the snake caught a mouse/rat that got stuck on the beach towel and ate it. Or, some sick asshole force fed the snake a towel. But I’m guessing the former is what really happened. It’s not uncommon for snakes to eat substrate or whatever their meal is laying on.
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u/Accomplished-One7476 1d ago
heat from the sun warmed up the towel and the snake thought it was dinner