Burmese python’s are probably the only snakes to be nurtured by their mother, as they are cared for during the first two weeks of their life. Starting life at only around 40cm in length, within a year they can exceed 3 meters and 40 kg in weight. Feeding on mammals and reptiles, these snakes have been known to attack, kill and even swallow crocodiles.
They can dislocate their jaws, and expand the skin and ribs to accommodate food much larger than their own head. Female Burmese have been known to reach lengths of 8 meters and are capable of swallowing goats or larger animals. They can go without food for many months at a time, shutting down their entire digestive system. In captivity some have been known to go without food for up to a year.
To save water, they excrete urinate a white jelly like substance which is concentrated salts and waste which quickly turns into a powder.
Burmese are known as the gentle giants of the snake world but are surrounded by myths of taking and swallowing children at play around villages. In reality they do not identify humans as food and would find it hard to swallow us because of our shoulders as they have no muscles for opening their mouths to this degree, they depend on swallowing food by moving over it like a sock.
0 comments:
Post a Comment