Python Swallows Adult Deer in Florida

Just in case you thought that fictional sources such as The Swiss Family Robinson had got it wrong, we have here an example of the great snake’s capacity.  It makes one wonder just what the true giants of the Amazon that I have also posted on are really capable of eating.  I am sure however, that they mostly focus on the obvious target of alligators.   Most everything else can actually get away fairly easily.  Stories aside this is not a creature that is really able to ambush the unwary quite that easily.  As mentioned here the deer was already dead before this snake decided to consume the corpse.

An alligator on the other hand is obviously rather vulnerable to such a snake as are smaller prey.

The bottom line is that a slew of formerly tame giant snakes are now populating the semi tropical portions of Florida at least.  This remains an unpleasant development that will be difficult to reverse.

We are of course reminded why the human brain is hard wired to trigger its fright and flight response the instance it observes a snake at close range.  I had the privilege of field testing the phenomena as a teenager.  I had no conscious memory of my explosive twenty yard sprint until it has completed and it was time to slow down.  That reaction would have saved my life in the jungle.

It is quite an experience to discover your body deciding to remove you out of harm’s way.

Giant Rogue Python Swallows Deer Whole

LiveScience.com – 23 hours ago

To a hungry python, no meal is too big. That's what wildlife officials in the Florida Everglades discovered last week when they came across a giant python that had just swallowed an entire adult deer.

More than 15 feet from nose to tail, the Burmese python was one of the largest snakes ever found in South Florida. After swallowing the 76-pound female deer, which was dead before the snake ate it, the reptile's midsection expanded to a husky 44 inches.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission workers captured and killed the snake with a shotgun Oct. 27. Officials said that was an important step in helping to stop pythons, which pet owners have released into the Everglades over the years, from spreading farther north.

"This is clearly an extreme event," Skip Snow, a biologist and python specialist at Everglades National Park, told the Sun-Sentinel. "It shows you they can eat huge things."

But just how does a python swallow such a large meal?

"One of the enduring myths about snake-feeding mechanisms is the idea that the jaws detach," explained Patrick T. Gregory, a biology professor at the University of Victoria. "In fact, they stay connected all the time."

The snake's lower jaw is not joined in the middle, as a human jaw is; instead, the two sides are attached in the center by an elastic tendon. This helps them spread their mouth wide, and another special skull bone allows them more range to open it vertically. Together, these adaptations widen the opening to their stomach.

The snake then takes plenty of time getting its meal down its throat. It slathers its prey with saliva, and then uses its toothy upper jaw to shove the animal down its throat.

Swallowing a deer is impressive, but pythons have also been known to take down alligators, small humans and even other large snakes.