HOW DOES A PYTHON EAT SOMETHING BIGGER THAN ITSELF?
STEP ONE. when prey come in distance the python can sense it through smelling with its tongue and heat radiation with its special sensory pits near its nostrils
!
the python shutting do
n will sit and wait for its prey, own its body to save energy
TYPES OF PREY large mammals such as deer small mammals such as mice other reptiles such as lizards sometimes humans! (if they’re really hungry)
STEP TWO.
the python bites onto the prey, leaping from the ground or from up a tree
WHERE ARE PYTHONS FOUND? Sub-Saharan Africa Nepal India Burma Southern China South East Asia Australia North America
its teeth are curved so that the prey can’t move from the python’s grasp
grass/weeds
near water
up a tree
STEP THREE. the python asphyxiates prey by constricting around it like a coil,stopping the flow of breath around the preys body. the bones of the prey are actually never broken!
pythons do descend from venomous snakes but they do not have any venom or poison in their bodies examples of venomous snakes - vipers - adders - rattlesnakes - cobras - mambas
STEP FOUR. e bone t a r d a u the q
the python can strech its jaw to an obtuse angle because of the quadrate bone, it can pivot allowing vertical and horizontal rotation of the jaw
the lower jaws are connected by an elastic ligament, allowing each side to move independantly
it does not dislocate its jaw!
STEP FIVE.
once the python kno by sensing that its h the prey is swallowe often head first.
ows its prey is dead heart has stopped, ed whole, most
COMMON TYPES OF PYTHON - Burmese python - Indian python - Rock python - Anaconda - Reticulated python
other useful python features that help with swallowing strechy skin elastic ligaments double jointed joints
BIGGEST RECORDED PYTHON 27 ft AVERAGE PYTHON LENGTH 19 ft
MALE HUMAN HEIGHT 6 ft
STEP
as swallowing c many hours the continues to bre poking its windp its mouth
python size comparisons
SIX.
can take e python eath by pipe out of
AIR
STEP SEVEN.
digest increa liver doubles in size in two days
digestion can take
tion power ases by 40
size of heart increases by 40%
days while the pythons insides change dramatically
BY KATIE AND MEGAN