14 DAY TRIAL // Earlier this month, a cyclist exploring the Lake Eland Game Reserve in South Africa came across a python abnormally plump around the middle. Obviously, the snake had just enjoyed a fairly large meal and was busy digesting it.
A few days later, local park rangers also stumbled upon the python. This time, however, the snake wasn't relaxing and enjoying the satisfaction that comes from having a full belly. Au contraire, it was very much dead.
It was its last supper that most likely killed the snake
Curious about what had killed the reptile, the park rangers decided to cut it open and have a look inside its stomach. Much to their surprise, they found that the python's last meal had been a porcupine weighing in at 13.8 kilograms (nearly 30 pounds).
Some of the porcupine's spikes were embedded in the snake's digestive tract and so the park rangers who found the python's corpse and sliced it to sneak a peek inside it believe the reptile died after having been impaled by its meal.
“Sadly, the African Rock Python that became an overnight sensation has been found dead. The 3.9 meter [12.8 feet] long python was found to have ingested a 13.8 kilogram [30 pounds] porcupine.”
“Autopsy showed porcupine quills lodged in the snake's digestive tract,” folks at the Lake Eland Game Reserve wrote in a Facebook post accompanied by photos of the dead python and of the porcupine recovered from its entrails.
Pythons are perfectly equipped to swallow large meals
Unique anatomical particularities make it possible for pythons and other snake species to open their mouth wide enough to swallow freakishly large prey, wildlife researchers explain.
Thus, other pythons living in South Africa's Lake Eland Game Reserve have been documented to feed on antelopes tipping the scale at well over 20 kilograms (45 pounds).
When consuming such large meals, the snakes usually retreat to a safe location where they remain until they digest it. To make the most of their oversized snacks, the snakes have evolved to alter their metabolism.
