How big an animal can a python swallow? What a human being? Or a deer, let’s clarify the question a bit. How big an animal can a Burmese python swallow? What will scientists answer to this question? Recently this was revealed in a study because in a video they saw the limitations of such a python being displayed before their eyes. They were surprised to see that the Burmese Python swallowed an entire deer.
How big is the deer and how big is the python,
According to a study published in the journal Reptiles and Amphibians on August 22, the python seen in the video was actually a 52 kg and 14.8 feet long female Burmese python. Whereas the deer he had swallowed was a white-tailed deer. This is a deer of the Odosoilius virginianus species. The weight of this deer was 35 kg, which was 67 percent of the weight of the python.
Swallowed deer in no time
The most surprising thing about this was how it got into the python’s mouth. For this the python had spread its mouth wide. For this, he opened his jaw and widened it to 93 percent of its capacity. “It felt like we were actually catching a serial killer in action, and it was amazing to see it in real time,” Ian Bartszek, a wildlife biologist and science coordinator for the conservation organization Conservancy of Southwest Florida, and study author, told Live Science. It was looking very strange.
Researchers were keeping an eye on pythons for 12 years. (Photo: Bartoszek-Conservancy-of-Southwest-Florida)
How was the python caught?
The wild area of Florida is already famous for the presence of large Burmese pythons. In this study, a tracking device was installed in a male python named Ronin. Bartszek said that each season Ronin tells him about female pythons that have already been removed (without killing) before they can lay eggs. Barteszek said that this was a very savage and heart-stopping sight that we got to see after 12 years of tracking pythons in southwest Florida.
These pythons eat deer and crocodiles
It was completely savage and it felt as if what happened had been happening for millions of years in areas with big snakes. But he also acknowledged that Florida’s forests do not have thriving apex predators that could pose a threat to all types of animals. Surprisingly, it is known all over the world that Burmese pythons are famous for eating deer and even crocodiles.
When researchers measured the expansion of the python’s jaw, they were surprised. (Photo: Bartoszek-Conservancy-of-Southwest-Florida)
How did these pythons thrive in this forest?
Burmese pythons are considered dangerous for the forest ecosystem of Florida. They came to the Everglades in the middle of the 20th century. They were a type of invasive species and were first seen in 1979. After this, they established themselves completely here during the 1990s and used to feed on the local species here.
destroyed this forest,
But naturally there were no predatory animals of any kind here. Therefore Burmese pythons flourished rapidly here. Experts estimate that there could be up to millions of Burmese pythons in Florida. They have devastated the local ecosystem and killed many mammal species.
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According to the study, earlier it was believed that the mouth of the Burmese python could open up to a maximum of about 22 cm. But after studying three of them, including the female python that was eating this deer, researchers found that the range would be around 26 cm. to watch the video Here Click!
Tags: Bizarre news, Science, science facts, science news, Shocking news, Weird news
FIRST PUBLISHED: October 25, 2024, 19:30 IST