Do massive snakes make you queasy? This isn’t for you. However should you discover the predatory tendencies of a number of the largest snakes on this planet fascinating, you’re in the precise place.
There are 26 species of pythons together with the notorious Burmese and reticulated pythons. All pythons are non-venomous—however that doesn’t imply they’re not significantly lethal. Based on the San Diego Zoo, pythons are ambush hunters. After they assault, they use constriction, which implies they wrap themselves round their prey to suffocate them. Then, pythons are identified to unfold their jaws and devour their prey entire, typically swallowing their meals headfirst.
This feeding technique typically results in pythons with apparent bulges of partially digested prey—and in some circumstances, what’s inside is downright surprising. These are the 5 most surprising issues individuals have ever present in a python’s abdomen.
The Large from the Everglades
The most important invasive python ever present in Florida was an 18-footer that weighed over 200 kilos. To get that massive, the snake should’ve carried out some severe injury to the Everglades’ native mammals. When scientists minimize open the snake’s abdomen, they discovered the hooves of a whitetail deer—its final meal.
Possum Bait
Throughout a latest examine on a wildlife refuge in Florida, researchers used a novel approach to seek out and take away pythons. The examine was on possum and raccoon motion information, however when a lifeless possum seemed to be shifting once more, the crew went to analyze—and finally eliminated the GPS-collared possum from the heart of a 12-foot python. Now, scientists are contemplating utilizing the technique elsewhere in Florida.
The Alligator Hunter
Okay, this one is gnarly. Within the fall of 2022, researchers discovered an enormous python with a bulging abdomen. They filmed the dissection—and the gorgeous second after they pulled an intact 5-foot gator out of it. See it for your self beneath.
The Girl-Eater
Final yr, a tragedy occurred in Indonesia. A 54-year-old girl went lacking on a rubber plantation. Later that week, she was discovered inside a distended 22-foot reticulated python.
The Deer Killer
Burmese pythons are identified to eat giant mammals, together with deer. This incident proves why. In 2016, researchers discovered the our bodies of three—sure, three—entire deer contained in the physique of 1 python. The practically 16-foot-long snake had devoured two fawns and one doe inside 90 days.
