Inside the python: Burmese snake dissection shocked scientists. Meaning for humans

The children's rhyme about Robin Bobbin, who ate forty people, ceases to be funny and absurd when it comes to... pythons. Scientists in Florida were shocked by what they discovered after a necropsy of a Burmese python in its stomach.

A new study published in the journal BioInvasion Records documents a case of rather unusual and rare behavior by the snake. A female Burmese python ate three white-tailed deer over the course of 87 days. She set a kind of gluttony record. Native to Southeast Asia, this aggressive specimen was captured (and subsequently euthanized) by Florida Everglades scientists in 2013.

Snakes are part of the entire world's ecosystem and are able to penetrate the most inaccessible places. In South Florida, the Burmese python has made its way through thousands of square kilometers, including the Everglades National Park.

The presence of pythons in the Everglades has marked a marked decline in the numbers of medium- and large-sized animals, including deer, rabbits, bobcats and raccoons.

When scientists found this individual, its length was 4.32 m and its weight was 48.3 kg. A subsequent necropsy revealed a huge amount of feces in the colon of the snake, which was 79 cm long and weighed 6.5 kg. An examination of the undigested mass of bones, teeth and hooves inside the python revealed that the snake had eaten three white-tailed deer. Incredibly, each of the deer represented 93%, 35% and 27% of the python's mass. Obviously, the small "doles" are fawns that are approximately 14 - 30 days old. The python was hiding in the water, capturing the deer when they came to drink.

This is the first known case of a Burmese python being dissected whose intestines contained the remains of several white-tailed deer, the researchers commented. - Even the most big snakes southern Florida are not capable of consuming medium-sized mammals. Consequently, pythons brought here from other territories represent new threat white-tailed deer populations in their habitats.

Eating three deer in three months is an indication of the snake's impressive metabolism. A mammal of approximately the same mass cannot survive eating three times every three months. However, even with such a small feeding schedule, predatory snakes are clearly disrupting Florida's ecosystem.

The Snakes are a particularly successful group" invasive species" due to their slow metabolism, low energy requirements, diversity of species consumed and high reproductive potential.

Indeed, the wonderful specimen with three deer in its intestines demonstrates this perfectly. As the authors of the paper write, “the significant amount of energy obtained during deer consumption clearly contributed to the deposition large quantity fat and the development of follicles found inside the female python, necessary for the snake to enter a high growth rate and ensure reproductive success - critical components of introduction into any new ecosystem."

How often do Burmese pythons feed? and got the best answer

Reply from ***T@tian@***[guru]


Interestingly, with such an “inconvenient” diet, the python digests its food quite quickly. Otherwise, having, for example, a swallowed calf in its digestive tract, the snake naturally becomes extremely clumsy and can easily become someone’s prey.

Answer from Victoria[guru]
He often hunts animals that come to drink. In addition to ungulates, monkeys and rodents, it attacks small crocodiles, monitor lizards, agamas and other reptiles
Burmese pythons are one of the largest snakes in the world - reaching eight meters in length and weighing up to 180 kilograms. As a rule, these snakes avoid people. They are considered quite dangerous, as they can curl up around a person and easily crush him to death.
Quite recently there was news that in the United States a python that was trying to digest a two-meter alligator was torn in half. Today, a new episode of a Burmese python became known, in which a suspicious bulge was found on its body. In the US state of Florida, a Burmese python with a suspicious bulge in its abdomen was subjected to an x-ray examination, which showed that the reptile had eaten a Siamese cat. Last Sunday, the Rodriguez family discovered a 3.5-meter python near their home in Miami. A large bulge was observed in the digestive tract of the snake. Since the family's one-year-old Siamese cat named Frances had recently gone missing, the Rodriguezes suspected the worst. “I’m sure he has a cat inside,” said Andres, one of the sons. His mother, Elidia, also had suspicions, but she said that she needed to make sure. “I still want to know for sure that it’s him in the stomach,” the woman said. The found python was taken to the reserve, where it underwent an x-ray examination, which determined that the python had actually eaten the Siamese cat. “The x-ray showed that the bulge in the piton’s stomach was the cat it had eaten,” said veterinarian William Chavez.

Answer from Cover Vladimir[guru]
Three subspecies of these reptiles are known: this is the Indian light tiger python Python molurus molurus, a medium-sized snake, usually does not exceed 4 meters, but six-meter specimens are also known. Distributed in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh. The coloring of this subspecies is lighter than the other two. Due to intensive development natural places The habitat range of the Indian python has sharply decreased. Currently, pythons are found in protected and national parks in the south and southeast of India. The Indian light tiger python is protected by law, included in the national and international Red Data Books, and in the first appendix of CITES lists. It is bred in captivity, but is extremely rare in amateur terrariums.
Ceylon tiger python - Python m. Pimbura is the smallest of the tiger pythons. Usually its length does not exceed 2 - 3 meters. Outwardly similar to the light tiger python, with which it was previously united into one subspecies. In addition to size, it differs from the Indian python in the shape of its head. Python m. pimbura is endemic to the island of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), inhabiting the few remaining in its original form forests and jungles. Included in the national and international Red Books, and in the second appendix of CITES lists. Due to its small size, it is a desirable species for terrarium lovers to keep, but it is quite expensive and rare, bred in captivity.
And finally the Dark Tiger Python - P. m. bivittatus is the largest, brightest and most common python from this group in the collections of zoos and terrariums. Darker in color than other subspecies (hence the name), inhabits mountainous rain forests(this is what is called the “mountain Burmese python”) of Southern China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Northern Thailand, Laos, Burma. The mountains rise to 1800 m above sea level. It reaches a length of up to 7 m, but in a terrarium it is usually about 4-5 m, and some of its morphs are even smaller. P. m. bivittatus is included in the second appendix of CITES listings. Currently, there are quite a lot of morphs and color variations of this python in the world.
Young pythons are fed once every 7-10 days, adults once every 10-20 days, with food items of appropriate size: mice, rats, guinea pigs, rabbits, poultry. Typically, pythons are not picky eaters and will absorb any food given to them that is suitable in size, although sometimes there are exceptions that specialize in one food preference, for example, poultry, so when purchasing an animal you need to inquire about its taste preferences. Sometimes teenage pythons and adult animals can refuse food and starve for 1-6 months without harm to their health. This is due to the imitation of natural seasonality, wintering, skin change, sexual behavior, etc.

Answer from Igor Pavlov[guru]
Burmese pythons can feed only a few times a year, digesting their victims without leaving any residue. According to research by biologist Robert K. Pope of Indiana University South Bend and his colleague Jean-Hervé Lignot of the Université Louis Pasteur, the secret natural “talent” – in a special type of cell, previously unknown to science.
The digestive characteristics of Burmese pythons are truly amazing. These animals manage to absorb food twice their weight in one sitting. In addition, they eat quite rarely.
Interestingly, with such an “inconvenient” diet, the python digests its food quite quickly. Otherwise, having, for example, a swallowed calf in its digestive tract, the snake naturally becomes extremely clumsy and can easily become someone’s prey.
The mechanical basis of this process lies in the ability internal organs python to stretching. But for a long time it was not clear how absorption occurs - after all, the Burmese python somehow digests food completely (with the exception, perhaps, of feathers and down).
As Pope and Ligno discovered, this digestion is accomplished by a special type of cell they call decoy cells. These cells are shaped like depressions on the intestinal wall. During digestion, they come into contact with food, and the microvilli of neighboring cells “catch” its particles, placing them inside the trap cell.
These cells accumulate particles of bone tissue, which then undergo further breakdown.
According to Pope, the main "job" of the trap cells is to help absorb as much calcium as possible.
Researchers claim that cells of this type are not found in other living beings.!!!

How often do Burmese pythons feed? and got the best answer

Reply from ***T@tian@***[guru]


Interestingly, with such an “inconvenient” diet, the python digests its food quite quickly. Otherwise, having, for example, a swallowed calf in its digestive tract, the snake naturally becomes extremely clumsy and can easily become someone’s prey.

Answer from Victoria[guru]
He often hunts animals that come to drink. In addition to ungulates, monkeys and rodents, it attacks small crocodiles, monitor lizards, agamas and other reptiles
Burmese pythons are one of the largest snakes in the world - reaching eight meters in length and weighing up to 180 kilograms. As a rule, these snakes avoid people. They are considered quite dangerous, as they can curl up around a person and easily crush him to death.
Quite recently there was news that in the United States a python that was trying to digest a two-meter alligator was torn in half. Today, a new episode of a Burmese python became known, in which a suspicious bulge was found on its body. In the US state of Florida, a Burmese python with a suspicious bulge in its abdomen was subjected to an x-ray examination, which showed that the reptile had eaten a Siamese cat. Last Sunday, the Rodriguez family discovered a 3.5-meter python near their home in Miami. A large bulge was observed in the digestive tract of the snake. Since the family's one-year-old Siamese cat named Frances had recently gone missing, the Rodriguezes suspected the worst. “I’m sure he has a cat inside,” said Andres, one of the sons. His mother, Elidia, also had suspicions, but she said that she needed to make sure. “I still want to know for sure that it’s him in the stomach,” the woman said. The found python was taken to the reserve, where it underwent an x-ray examination, which determined that the python had actually eaten the Siamese cat. “The x-ray showed that the bulge in the piton’s stomach was the cat it had eaten,” said veterinarian William Chavez.

Answer from Cover Vladimir[guru]
Three subspecies of these reptiles are known: this is the Indian light tiger python Python molurus molurus, a medium-sized snake, usually not exceeding 4 meters, but six-meter specimens are also known. Distributed in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh. The coloring of this subspecies is lighter than the other two. Due to the intensive development of natural habitats, the range of the Indian python has sharply decreased. Currently, pythons are found in protected and national parks in the south and southeast of India. The Indian light tiger python is protected by law, included in the national and international Red Data Books, and in the first appendix of CITES lists. It is bred in captivity, but is extremely rare in amateur terrariums.
Ceylon tiger python - Python m. Pimbura is the smallest of the tiger pythons. Usually its length does not exceed 2 - 3 meters. Outwardly similar to the light tiger python, with which it was previously united into one subspecies. In addition to size, it differs from the Indian python in the shape of its head. Python m. Pimbura is endemic to the island of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), inhabiting the few forests and jungles that have remained intact. Included in the national and international Red Books, and in the second appendix of CITES lists. Due to its small size, it is a desirable species for terrarium lovers to keep, but it is quite expensive and rare, bred in captivity.
And finally the Dark Tiger Python - P. m. bivittatus is the largest, brightest and most common python from this group in the collections of zoos and terrariums. It is darker in color than other subspecies (hence the name), inhabits mountain rain forests (it is called the “mountain Burmese python”) of Southern China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Northern Thailand, Laos, Burma. The mountains rise to 1800 m above sea level. It reaches a length of up to 7 m, but in a terrarium it is usually about 4-5 m, and some of its morphs are even smaller. P. m. bivittatus is included in the second appendix of CITES listings. Currently, there are quite a lot of morphs and color variations of this python in the world.
Young pythons are fed once every 7-10 days, adults once every 10-20 days, with food items of appropriate size: mice, rats, guinea pigs, rabbits, poultry. Typically, pythons are not picky eaters and will absorb any food given to them that is suitable in size, although sometimes there are exceptions that specialize in one food preference, for example poultry, so when purchasing an animal you need to inquire about its taste preferences. Sometimes teenage pythons and adult animals can refuse food and starve for 1-6 months without harm to their health. This is due to the imitation of natural seasonality, wintering, skin change, sexual behavior, etc.

Answer from Igor Pavlov[guru]
Burmese pythons can feed only a few times a year, digesting their victims without leaving any residue. According to research by biologist Robert K. Pope of Indiana University South Bend and his colleague Jean-Hervé Lignot of the Université Louis Pasteur, the secret natural “talent” – in a special type of cell, previously unknown to science.
The digestive characteristics of Burmese pythons are truly amazing. These animals manage to absorb food twice their weight in one sitting. In addition, they eat quite rarely.
Interestingly, with such an “inconvenient” diet, the python digests its food quite quickly. Otherwise, having, for example, a swallowed calf in its digestive tract, the snake naturally becomes extremely clumsy and can easily become someone’s prey.
The mechanical basis of this process lies in the ability of the python’s internal organs to stretch. But for a long time it was not clear how digestion occurs - after all, the Burmese python somehow digests food completely (with the exception, perhaps, of feathers and down).
As Pope and Ligno discovered, this digestion is accomplished by a special type of cell they call decoy cells. These cells are shaped like depressions on the intestinal wall. During digestion, they come into contact with food, and the microvilli of neighboring cells “catch” its particles, placing them inside the trap cell.
These cells accumulate particles of bone tissue, which then undergo further breakdown.
According to Pope, the main "job" of the trap cells is to help absorb as much calcium as possible.
Researchers claim that cells of this type are not found in other living beings.!!!

If you write in Python, you've probably seen method definitions wrapped in double underscores in standard libraries. These "magic" methods form many of the useful interfaces that you use all the time - for example, when you get a value from an element number or print something. These methods can and should be used in your programs. I'll show you how now.

In general, any well-designed language defines a set of conventions and enforces them in its standard library. Agreements may concern both external signs, such as naming syntax (CamelCase, snake_case) and object behavior. Python is a very consistent language in this sense.

The syntax in Python is not extensible, but the interfaces for interaction between objects are well defined and accessible to any developer. Unlike Java, Python has no formal concept of class interfaces; any class can expose any interface, just define methods with the desired names and arguments and ensure that their behavior is as expected.

Interfaces in Python

Because Python is dynamically typed, it is not possible to check the class of an object at compile time. The capabilities for specifying type annotations from Python 3.5 are intended primarily for external static analyzers and are not used at runtime. Explicitly checking a class using type() is considered bad form.

As a last resort, you can use isinstance() - unlike type(), this function returns True not only for the class itself, but also for all its descendants. Type() checking will break in inheritance, which is why people treat it so badly.

Object interfaces are defined by so-called magic methods. By convention, their names are surrounded by double underscores. The __init__() method, which serves as a class constructor, is an example everyone knows. Almost every standard operation, including formatted output and arithmetic, is implemented in some magical way.

To demonstrate, we will write a primitive and slow implementation of an associative array based on a list of tuples, “identical to the natural one” in terms of the interface.

Making your own associative array

The implementation will be very simple - a linked list of key-value pairs. For example, the equivalent of an associative array (1:2, 3:4) would be [(1, 2), (3, 4)] . It is much slower than the built-in one: for example, searching for the value of an element by key will require O(n) operations, while the built-in one requires O(1). For demonstration, however, it will do just fine.

We'll call our class Assoc. Let's define a class and its constructor:

Class Assoc(object): def __init__(self, contents=): self._contents = contents

For ease of testing, we made it possible to pass the initial value in a constructor like Assoc([(1,2), (3,4)]) .

Adding String Representations

There are two different methods in Python for obtaining the string representation of objects: __repr__ and __str__ . The difference between the two is subtle, but significant: __repr__ is designed to produce a valid Python expression that can be used to create the same object. This is not always possible, so in practice for many objects it simply returns something that allows the developer to identify the object, like . This is what is called when you enter the variable name in the interactive interpreter.

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For many centuries, snakes aroused the most contradictory feelings among people: some idolized them and considered them a symbol of wisdom, healing, renewal and resurrection. Others considered it a creature that belongs to the other world and is in the service of dark forces. It was fear that gave rise to many myths and legends, including those about their size, strength, bloodthirstiness and gluttony. Prostozoo will tell you which snake is the largest in the world.

There are many legends and stories about huge snakes, usually cannibals, whose length reached 30 meters, their girth was as huge tree, and when they crawled through the forest or plantings, young trees broke. However, in fact, such giants have not existed in the entire history of the animal world. According to the latest archaeological finds, as well as research from the Smithsonian Museum and Research Center, the largest and longest snake in the world, Titanoboa, lived 60 million years ago and replaced extinct dinosaurs. Its length was more than 15 meters and it weighed more than a ton.

Photo source: http://techno.bigmir.net

Photo source: http://techno.bigmir.net

Modern snakes are somewhat smaller compared to their ancestors, but they are often impressive in their size. The real leaders are the reticulated python, the giant (green), Burmese or dark tiger python.

All three species belong to the same family – pseudopods. Their main feature is the presence of rudiments of the hind limbs. Powerful muscles allow snakes to kill prey by suffocation, without breaking the victim’s bones, as previously thought. The snake could itself suffer from a broken bone of the prey, so it only squeezes harder when the animal exhales, in which case inhalation is almost impossible. The coloring of snakes of this family is the most diverse, but even if it is variegated, it still allows the snake to blend in with environment on the ground.

Reticulated python

The python gets its name from its pattern, which resembles a fishing net draped over a snake's skin.

Photo source: http://ianimal.ru

This is the main contender for the title of the largest snake of our time - according to official data, the record length is 12 m 20 cm. On average, the length of the reticulated python rarely exceeds 8-9 m. main reason its impressive size - conditions favorable for growth - temperature, humidity, dense greenery of trees, a huge amount of varied food: birds, mammals, eggs, fish and even crocodiles.

Photo source: http://ianimal.ru

The main habitat of reticulated pythons is Southeast Asia: Southern Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesian islands and the Lesser Sunda Islands.

Photo source: http://ianimal.ru

You can meet them among the branches of trees in tropical forests and open forests, where they sleep or wait for prey above the animal trail, and on mountain slopes and clearings, because they mainly lead a terrestrial lifestyle. Asian reticulated pythons are excellent swimmers, so they can often be seen near bodies of water and even in the open sea, where they hunt fish or wait for prey near a watering hole.

Photo source: http://ianimal.ru

Photo source: http://ianimal.ru

Photo source: http://ianimal.ru

Pythons are frequent guests in settlements local residents, because there is a lot of food here, for which there is almost no need to hunt - livestock, rodents.

Photo source: http://ianimal.ru

Reticulated pythons are not afraid of humans, but they are not in a hurry to attack - only two cases of cannibalism are known, when a 13-year-old boy and an adult man - the expedition guide - died.

Giant anaconda

For the first time about giant anaconda, also known as the water boa, was described in his book Chronicles of Peru by Pedro de Cieza de Leon in 1553.

Anaconda is a serious competitor to the reticulated python, the length of big representative of this subfamily is 11.43 m. However, even with a shorter length, the anaconda significantly exceeds its rival in weight.

Photo source: http://ianimal.ru

There are practically no fundamental differences between the anaconda and the reticulated python.

Naturally, the “water boa” spends most of its life in the water, crawling only occasionally onto land to bask in the sun. It lives in the lowlands of the Amazon and Orinoco rivers, mainly in standing water, oxbow lakes and lakes. If her pond suddenly dries up, she either goes downstream in search of a new shelter, or buries herself deep in the mud and falls into a deep sleep until the water returns with the beginning of the rainy season. It can often be found in Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, northern Bolivia, northeastern Peru and even on the island of Trinidad.

Photo source: http://upload.wikimedia.org

Contrary to legends, anacondas are not poisonous; the snake strangles its prey and drags it under water. U adult There are practically no enemies, there is even a known case of an anaconda feasting on a young 3-meter python, but young snakes can get caught in the teeth of a crocodile or other predator.

Despite the reputation that myths and legends, as well as cinema, have created for the anaconda, this snake not only does not attack people, but even tries to hide away after catching the human smell. Unfortunately, due to the peculiarities and inaccessibility of their habitats, representatives of this subfamily of pseudopods have been little studied by scientists.

Dark brindle(Burmese) python

The dusky tiger python is the third largest snake on the planet, the longest representative was more than 9 m in length and weighed almost 100 kg.

Photo source: http://globuslife.ru

These snakes usually lead a terrestrial lifestyle due to their significant mass and relatively short length, although they swim and dive well, and young pythons climb trees remarkably well.

Pythons live in tropical forests, swamps, river valleys of Myanmar, East India, Nepal, Cambodia, southern China, as well as on the islands of Hainan, Java, Sulawesi and some islands of Indonesia. Like everyone else large snakes, Burmese pythons are predators, but they are one of the few who can afford to hunt jaguars and jackals, which can offer serious resistance even to an anaconda.

Photo source: http://animal.discovery.com

In the twentieth century, dark tiger pythons were very popular in the USA as pet, however, the pets grew up, and few of the owners could keep the 8-meter snake. They were released outside settlements, and after a few years Burmese pythons became part of the fauna national park The Everglades in Florida, where there were the most such pets. Today the pythons are leading deadly war for survival with the alligators living in the park, but primarily the herbivores suffer from this, which are hunted by both sworn enemies. Thus, due to human shortsightedness, some animals living in the park were on the verge of extinction.

Photo source: http://upload.wikimedia.org

Snakes and people

IN Lately Keeping exotic animals at home has become very popular. Quite often in homes wealthy people you can see a terrarium where a huge reticulated or tiger python lives. As a rule, snakes behave calmly, without showing aggression towards their owners, but you should never forget that this is still a wild animal, and therefore safety rules must be strictly observed. For example, remember that you can touch the snake only after you have thoroughly washed your hands, otherwise, when it smells food, the python will attack your hand.

Photo source: http://ianimal.ru

Despite their terrifying size and strength, both anacondas and pythons most often become human prey - in their habitats, snake meat is considered almost an everyday dish by local tribes. The islanders sincerely believe that by eating the meat of this huge snake, they receive not only a piece of her power, but also a little ancient wisdom, and most importantly, protection from her relatives. However, if the natives kill snakes solely for food, then “civilized” snake catchers do this primarily for the sake of snake skins, which are widely used in haberdashery. Today, many countries have already introduced restrictions on the amount of snake skins exported.

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