by 16-feet-long Burmese python found to have sᴡᴀʟʟᴏᴡᴇᴅ a whole deer
Burmese pythons are native to Southeast Asia and an ɪɴᴠᴀsɪᴠᴇ species in Florida, that have become established in the 1990s. New Delhi: It’s amazing what snakes, with their slender bodies, are capable of doing. We’re talking in terms of their consumption capacities – irrespective of size or quantity.
A Burmese python slithering through the Everglades proved that her eyes weren’t bigger than her stomach, swallowing intact a 76-pound deer. At 15.65 feet, the python isn’t the largest on record. But the size of her ᴘʀᴇʏ both impresses and concerns state and federal wildlife scientists and land managers trying to control the non-native species. A ɴᴇᴄʀᴏᴘsʏ conducted by Everglades National Park wildlife biologists showed the python had a girth of 44.1 inches equating to 13 per cent of its body mass. The fecal matter contained a large quantity of undigested fur, hooves, bones and teeth. After devouring the adult female deer. The snake normally weighed 139 pounds. It’s unclear how the python attacked the deer, but the snake may have hid in the water, waiting for the deer to stop for a drink. That would have left the deer within striking distance of the snake. The Telegraph further said that, researchers suggested that the snake may have hidden in the water, allowing to get within striking distance of the deer when they were drinking.
Pythons are ʀᴀᴠᴇɴᴏᴜs ᴇᴀᴛᴇʀs, and they’ve been ᴡʀᴇᴀᴋɪɴɢ ʜᴀᴠᴏᴄ on the Everglades ecosystem. The ʜᴜɴɢʀʏ snakes ʜᴜɴᴛ the region’s native animals, including birds, mammals and at least one reptile — the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis), the researchers wrote in the study. Although other studies have shown correlations between the presence of pythons and a drop in mammals — such as raccoons, opossums, bobcats and rabbits — the new report shows concrete evidence that pythons can eat more than one deer within a short period of time. “It just begs the question, ‘How often are they eating these things?'”
