Animal Series #17; A Rival To A King Cobra

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Picture Source - Public Domain Pictures (CC0)

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I have written, on numerous occasions, how powerful an alligator or even a crocodile can be. They were a significant creature in the history of mankind and in Malaysia (my own country), most of the humans' death by animals, especially in Sabah and Sarawak, were attributed by all kind of great crocodiles like Bujang Senang, Bujang Samarahan, Bujang Seblak etc. Nevertheless, if you were thinking that there were no other animals in the world (well maybe except for hippos) which can threaten a crocodile or an alligator, you might want to rethink that again. Humans have been a significant predator to many animals but I want to talk about how dangerous a python can be, not only to an alligator but to humans as well. Humans recognise pythons as one of the major threat if their population were not controlled effectively. There were a lot of documented cases whereby pythons would eat a fully grown human adult within a few hours, only they can't seem to move for a few days after the meal.

2 days ago, in Florida, a giant, almost 10-foot python was trying to strangle an alligator to death but lucky for it (the alligator), a United State snake trapper named Mike Kimmel was nearby. He is currently on a specific mission to control the number of pythons which have been increasing and threatening the lives of native creatures which were living within the Everglades, including alligators. The video posted by him went viral and it is clear, from the python's behaviour of strangling its victim and waiting for it to die from suffocation, it wants to eat the alligator afterwards. That was pretty bold and rare, isn't it? Trying to eat one of the most aggressive and agilest ancient predators. From that video, it seems that without Mike Kimmel's help, the alligator would have surely been one of the python tastiest treats.

In February 2018, a picture and a video which depicts the battle between two great serpents have become viral. In an article which I have written in the past about how destructive a king cobra is for the other snake species can be downright scary. I mean, if you have a specified concentration of neurotoxin as a weapon which could render an Asian elephant catatonic, you can basically kill anything else (except for mongoose which is resistant to such venoms). Moreover, king cobras favour other snake species as prey more than anything else so killing a python can be one of its innate specialities. The thing is, what we have witnessed in February 2018 is quite different from what we could have expected. With an incredible length, weight and an enormous constricting power, one of the biggest python ever measured successfully kill an almost 6 metres king cobra (although the python died as well). The king has finally met its formidable foe!

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Picture Source - Pixabay (CC0)

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Growing up with movies that illustrated how powerful snake can be (especially the movie Anaconda), I've grown fearful of snakes especially a python. My take is, if I was bitten by one of the poisonous snakes, I could have survived if I have the capability to extract the poison or went to the ER within 30 minutes but if I were to be strangled by a python, my bones will break apart, I would be rendered immobile and the snake wouldn't leave me alone until it has swallowed me as a whole. Obviously, if I encountered one without anyone would be able to help me in the surrounding, my death is fairly certain. Trying to get over the fear of snakes is quite difficult and for me, it's irrelevant unless it's snake phobia (which would affect the quality of life in a different way).

Can A Python Kills An Alligator?

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Picture By Mango Atchar - Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 2.0)

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When people were talking about python, most of us would imagine only one kind which is commonly seen and quite popular. There are currently 31 species of python which can be found inhabiting across the Asian countries, Africa and Australia. Out of the 31 species, a reticulated Pythonidae is the most recognisable one probably because of their long and large size along with some discrete and unique pattern on their skin. They were considered as the most detrimental group of venomless snake species possessing an enormous strangling strength, often killing their enemies by suffocation and then eat them (exactly in that order); they would take 3-7 days to digest their victims (depending on the type of prey). It would take a few minutes for a strangled victim to be killed but a python will usually take approximately an hour to eat them. Although python species (specifically, the Burmese pythons) were not originated from the United States of America, they were introduced in the late 90s, making it an invasive species, threatening the integrity of the ecosystem within the Everglades National Park.

Apart from an enormous constricting strength to kill their victims, a python is also equipped with a set of teeth which were pointing backwards but it was never meant for killing or masticating their food. The purpose of it is to grip their victims immobilise while letting them died by the constriction. Some people assume the death brought by the constriction were caused by fractured bones but the most common cause of death after a few autopsies were a traumatic cardiac arrest; obviously, it would be even quicker for people who were having a heart condition to die. Most of the python species were be able to stay camouflage for a long period of time, waiting for a potential victim to pass by. They will start to hunt whenever they feel hungry and it usually takes days to weeks after eating before they will become aggressive again. They were considered ambush predators striking when their victims were close from their supposedly immobilise position.

Most pythons hunt at night as it will be easier for them to be unseen while waiting for their victims to approach. They have an average sense of sight in the middle of the day so by night, they will mostly depend on specialised receptors which can be found between their lip scales which are sensitive to infrared that will allow them to literally detect heat in the middle of the darkness; remember the movie "Predators", I guess that would be it. After strangling victims to their death, they would secrete a specialised mucus which contains an insignificant amount of venom proteins to aid in swallowing. Among all of its victims, humans are the most difficult "food" of all. Pythons would be able to stretch their mouth as wide as they could to engulf a much bigger victim but due to the nature of the scapula bones which are not collapsible, it would take them hours to swallow completely.

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Picture By Justin Baeder - Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

The question remains, can a python kill and eat an alligator? You can say that even though they were usually right about what they can prey on, but sometimes, they might have just overestimated their capability to kill and eat something. Well, they could've killed and eaten them given that the alligator they were targeting was the right size and are dead when they were trying to swallow them a whole. When Burmese pythons were first introduced in the late 90s, they have to compete with the local alpha predator of the Everglade's National Park which is the alligators. In 2005, a weird occurrence happened; a 3.9 metres Burmese pythons were found burst after it tried to swallow a 1.8 metres alligator. It was unfortunate for the python, it might have thought the alligator has died when in fact it hasn't so it might have clawed the python from the inside causing it to die; well both of them died.

Pythons And Humans

Huge snakes such as pythons, boas and anacondas have long been entangled with humans and just like any other man-eating animals, the reason why pythons kill and eat humans can be rooted from the fact that people have been destroying their natural habitats and natural prey. When Burmese pythons were taken across the sea to the United State, they were often treated as pets, well, until they grew bigger than the owner could have imagined and can be potentially life-threatening. They were thrown out, probably being donated to the reserve for their own benefits, not knowingly at the same time, they were introducing a new potential alpha to the place governed by alligators. Even though in the past, it was thought that people were killed due to suffocation of being strangled before they were eaten, the quickest way to kill victims was to cut off blood supply to the heart which will eventually cause cardiac arrest; this method is being used by boas and presumably anacondas and pythons.

It was understandable why in 2005, the alligator was able to scratch the pythons from the inside before both of them were dead; unlike any other creatures, alligators possessed a hard hide which made it difficult for the python to determine whether the alligator was dead or not. Phytons were vulnerable to being attacked by its prey when they were strangling their prey. They only have an elongated body equipped with strong muscles to kill them (well they do have sharp teeth but that rarely factor into why their prey died) which made them vulnerable to be bitten or scratched by anything they were constricting. It is thus, makes sense why they were cutting off blood supply instead of suffocating their victims to kill them; it would be quicker while imposing less harm to themselves.

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Picture By Tim Vickers - Wikimedia (CC0)

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Now, let's take a look at some documented cases regarding people being eaten by pythons:

• On March 28th, 2017, a plantation worker named Mr A was missing while working in the plantation located somewhere on the Sulawesi island. Villagers from a place called Salubiro formed a few search parties searching from him around the plantation area only to discover a bloated reticulated python. At first, they wouldn't care much but after they saw something which appears like a shoe-shaped bum on its bloated stomach, they caught and killed the snake. They discovered a full body of Mr A after cutting through the belly of the snake. It was an unfortunate incident but quite common among plantation workers due to the fact that a significant portion of the forest has to be brought down to build a plantation thus disrupting the python's natural habitat.

• Earlier this year (January 2018), Mr D, a 31 years old man was found dead in his bedroom which was filled with 10 pythons and 12 tarantulas which he kept as his pets. The death could have been accidental while his favourite yellow python called Tiny was showing some affection to him, strangling him too hard and thus causing him to become asphyxiated. When his parents tried to check out what's going on after they heard a loud bang sound coming from the D's room, they found D was lying on the floor and Tiny was hiding behind a furniture, probably scared by his unexpected falling while it was coiling around D. Mr D has always been so interested in snakes and now, unexpectedly, he was killed by one.

• On June 14th, 2018, a 54 years old woman, Mrs T was missing after she went to her garden located on the Muna island with a flashlight because she was suspecting there were some pigs which have been messing around with her crops. On the morning of June 15th, 2018, the villagers have formed a few search parties to aid in the rescue mission which at first they thought Mrs T has been kidnapped or killed. They found a few belongings of Mrs T and approximately 50 metres away, lies a bloated and full reticulated python which is then, killed and carried to the village by a few people. They were suspecting Mrs T was eaten by the snake and eventually, they were right. Mrs T has swallowed a whole along with her clothes and judging from the position of the body, she was eaten from the head down. It was a sad tragedy and encountering a hungry reticulated python was a touch of destiny for Mrs T.

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Picture By Rajarshi MITRA - Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

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Keeping dangerous exotic pets like pythons would require a substantial amount of commitment, knowledge and planning to avoid the risk that might be implicated on the owner as a result of carelessness. Of course, I respected people wishes to care for animals but that doesn't necessarily mean you have to take up some of the deadliest alpha into your home and turn it into an exotic zoo. Bonding with pets (python in this case) was important as it will allow the pet and the owner to achieve a relative mutual understanding of not trying to kill each other along the period of living together. To be honest, I didn't like reptiles as pets much no matter how cute they were. I have no idea what kind of feeling a person could have, cuddling a snake in the middle of the night while watching television.

There were many occasions in which mutual understanding could never be achieved and the pets end up being banished/dumped/donated to someplace else imposing a great psychological damage to the pets. In May 2018, two siblings were killed (4 and 6 years old kids) by a python in an exotic snake shop after the African rock python, successfully escape out of its glass cage, through the vent into the boy's room while they were sleeping. The shop was later being raided by the local authorities and all of the exotic animals including 4 alligators were seized, possibly they were going to be euthanised later due to the fact that none of the zoos or animal sanctuaries who can afford to accept them. It was unfortunate for the kids and can you imagine if the python was cruel enough to kill both of the children, why should they be sold as pets? They could have killed others.

References and further reading materials

• Pythonidae - Wikipedia. Retrieved on June 23rd, 2018.
• Pythonidae - Britannica. Retrieved on June 23rd, 2018.
• US snake trapper Mike Kimmel saves alligator from grips of a python in Florida. Retrieved on June 23rd, 2018.
• The King (Cobra) Is Dead (and So Is the Python). Retrieved on June 23rd, 2018.
• Snake bursts after gobbling gator. Retrieved on June 23rd, 2018.
• Python Swallows Indonesian Man Whole, With Aftermath Caught on Video. Retrieved on June 23rd, 2018.
• How a Python Ate a Woman Whole and Left Hardly a Trace of the Fierce Attack. Retrieved on June 23rd, 2018.
• KILLED BY PYTHON Man strangled to death by his own pet 8ft-long python called Tiny after she ‘coiled around him’ in first known case in Britain. Retrieved on June 23rd, 2018.
• Pythons: Are they ever a good idea for a pet?. Retrieved on June 23rd, 2018.
• Crews euthanize four alligators from pet shop linked to python attacks. Retrieved on June 23rd, 2018.

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