Video at site. (A nilgai is an antelope)
Posted on 09/25/2016 1:42:07 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Pythons swallow their prey whole, and take several days or even weeks to fully digest it.
Biting off more than it could chew cost a 20-foot python its life in Junagadh district. The python died yesterday after swallowing a blue bull (‘nilgai’) at Baliavad village near Gir wildlife sanctuary, a Gujarat forest department official said. Villagers found the python lying on the road, its belly distended beyond normal capacity, and apparently struggling to digest the animal it had swallowed. “Forest officials were informed and they rushed to the site to ascertain its condition,” Deputy Conservator of Forest R Senthilkumaran said today. “It succumbed to the internal injuries caused by the (swallowing of) blue bull,” he said. Pythons swallow their prey whole, and take several days or even weeks to fully digest it. They are known to prey on animals much larger in size. After eating, a python can go several weeks, if not months, without needing to feed again. Reportedly, A farmer who first noticed this, informed the authorities of the Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary, Junagadh, through a telephonic message.
“Python roams around the wildlife sanctuary and they could rarely be seen. We got a telephonic message of a farmer that a python has swallowed a big animal. We sent a rescue team immediately and found that a python has swallowed a blue bull,” said Assistant Conservator of Forest S.D. Tilala. Watch the video here.
“It was 18-20 feet long. We have transported the animal to some other place so that it does not injure other people. We will keep it under observation. When it will digest the blue bill, we will release the python in the forest,” he added.
Video at site. (A nilgai is an antelope)
The Erf needs pythons because?
It died and then it lived and then it died and lived again to die.
They actually received a ‘telephonic’ message about this!
Apparently, the snake’s venom was not powerful enough to dissolve the animal tissues in an efficient way.
Can you imagine how wide the snake’s jaws had to flip open for this to occur? It’s a wonder he didn’t get lockjaw.
#snakeslivesmatter
Actually they are part of the ecosystem and anything a python can catch was usually not long for this world any way.
Better that the python eat it then having a decaying animal laying around.
And they’re taking over south Florida.
We have a Nutria problem in Louisiana but since they started putting a bounty on them the population has dramatically decreased.
Peto-bismol, don’t leave home without it.
Nutria make pretty coats.
The python is the Oprah of the snake world.
He died doing what he loves best.
I hear they don’t taste bad but I have never eaten one. They are vegetarians.
Ain’t it the truth. Right now they lovingly capture these creatures and give them nice new homes in upstate New York.
They are killing off the gators and caymans.
I don’t think Pythons are venomous.
Geez for a second I thought this article referred to the tragic death of one of the actors...but no this is a real Python not one of the Monty’s.
The python had a climate change moment.
“Apparently, the snake’s venom was not powerful enough to dissolve the animal tissues in an efficient way.”
Pythons are constrictors, squeezing their prey to death rather than using venom.
“Can you imagine how wide the snake’s jaws had to flip open for this to occur? It’s a wonder he didn’t get lockjaw.”
Definitely amazing!
“Whereas the upper jaw of a human is fused to the skull and therefore unable to move, a snake’s upper jaw is attached to its braincase by muscles, ligaments and tendons, allowing it some front-to-back and side-to-side mobility. The upper jaw connects to the lower jaw by the quadrate bone, which works like a double-jointed hinge so the lower jaw can dislocate, allowing the mouth to open as wide as 150 degrees. Also, the bones that make up the sides of the jaws are not fused together at the front like the human chin, but instead are connected by muscle tissue, allowing the sides to separate and move independently of one another. All of this flexibility comes in handy when a snake encounters prey bigger than its head — its head can stretch to accommodate it.”
http://animals.howstuffworks.com/snakes/snake4.htm
They have hunts but pythons are incredibly elusive and the Everglades is huge and much is inaccessible.
https://news.vice.com/article/hunters-descend-on-southern-florida-for-annual-python-hunt
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