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Scientists demonstrated the limits of a Burmese python and how large an animal it can swallow.
The limit of a Burmese python’s mouth opening is approximately 26 cm.
In a recent study, scientists demonstrated the limits of a Burmese python and how large an animal it can swallow. According to a study published in the journal Reptiles and Amphibians on August 22, the python seen in the video is a female reptile that weighs around 52 kg and is 14.8 feet long. It swallowed a white-tailed deer that belongs to the Odocoileus Virginianus species that weighs around 35 kg. The most surprising aspect of the deer was how it managed to enter the python’s mouth. To accomplish this, the python had to stretch its mouth wide, opening its jaws to 93 percent of their capacity. Ian Barteszek, a wildlife biologist, and science coordinator for the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, and one of the study’s authors remarked to Live Science that they felt they were actually witnessing a serial killer in action, and it was very strange to observe it in real-time.
Florida’s wild area is already known for large Burmese pythons. For this study, a male python named Ronin was fitted with a tracking device. He described it as the most brutal and heart-stopping sight he had witnessed in his twelve years of tracking pythons in Southwest Florida.
According to Barteszek, this python preys on both deer and crocodiles. Additionally, he cited that the behaviour observed by him was completely savage which further highlights that such occurrences are very common and have been happening for millions of years in regions where large snakes inhabit. He also mentioned that the Florida forests have not developed top predators capable of threatening various animal species.
The Burmese pythons came to the Everglades in the mid-20th century and are considered dangerous for Florida’s forest ecosystem. These encroaching species were seen first in 1979 after which they had to fully establish themselves during the 1990s and started preying on the local species and due to the absence of any natural predator, the Burmese pythons proliferated here rapidly. Experts estimate that there are millions of Burmese pythons that exist here who have devastated the local ecosystem and killed numerous animal species.
According to the study, it was previously believed that the maximum opening of the mouth of a Burmese python was about 22 cm. After studying three of them, including this female python that was preying on this deer, the researchers found that this limit would be about 26 cm.
