16-Foot Python Eats Florida Deer Weighing 76 Pounds
A 16-foot-long python was captured after workers from South Florida Water Management District discovered that it had eaten a whole adult deer.
The massive reptile had apparently eaten an adult deer weighing around 76 pounds right before being captured and measured around 44 inches wide, as a result.
Burmese pythons are not native to the Everglades and have been spreading further north after many pet snakes were released into the wild, endangering native species. The snake was killed with a shotgun after being captured.
The pythons primarily eat smaller mammals and birds, but larger specimens are happy to gulp down alligators, deer and hogs.
Last year, scientists from Denmark used computer technology to look inside the organs of a python after it had swallowed a whole rat. It took 132 hours for the snake to fully digest the rodent, with the snake's intestine expanding and its heart rate increasing to help it break down its substantial snack.
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