People, trying to offend the interlocutor, sometimes call him a reptile, a viper, a snake, a cobra, meaning that these reptiles have deadly poison, aggressive behavior and irritability. These reptiles, during the period of laying and guarding their nest, can even throw themselves at their own shadow - their behavior becomes so inadequate.
However, no one ever compares a person, for the sake of offense, with such a very formidable representative of the suborder of snakes as a python. Meanwhile, this predator is no less dangerous. Perhaps this is because even the largest snake - the reticulated python - rarely attacks a person. The size of a man does not allow him to swallow it. The python is not capable of tearing the victim to pieces and chewing food. Teeth are used by reptiles only to hold prey.
The largest snake in adulthood feeds on birds, lizards, toads, rabbits, jackals, it can hardly swallow a roe deer, antelope, monkey, a small crocodile. If the prey is too large, the python may regurgitate it. Due to the fact that the largest snake chooses its food based only on the dimensions of a living creature, a child or a person of small stature may well become its victim.
The jaws of the python are extremely mobile, the mouth has the ability to stretch, which allows it to "stretch" on the killed victim like a stocking on the leg. After the prey is inside it, the predator falls into a state of hibernation: it digests food and practically does not move at this time. If a reptile is lucky enough to eat a wild boar or roe deer, the "rest" can last up to 40 days.
Reticulated pythons are often kept in zoos, because everyone wants to see what the largest snake in the world looks like (the photo shows the moment of rescuing one of the representatives of this species, stuck in the fence of the Phalaborwa Zoo).
The colors of snakes are very diverse, their back can be covered with such a unique ornament that one involuntarily thinks: "Were the masters of carpet weaving drawings for luxurious carpets copied from them?"
Usually this subspecies of snakes reaches a length of four to eight meters, but sometimes it can grow up to ten meters. For example, the largest snake in the world, the reticulated python, was caught in Indonesia. Its weight was 447 kg, and its length was 14.85 m. It costs nothing for such a monster to swallow a cow or a person! One look is enough to cause panic in any living being.
The distribution zone of the reticulated python includes Africa (south of the Sahara Desert), South and Southeast Asia. Prefer these creepy cold-bloodedsettle in savannahs, tropical and subtropical forests near water bodies. After all, a large python snake loves to swim and stay in the water for a long time. They can crawl trees very well.
Pythons differ from their close relatives - boas - in that they are egg-laying reptiles. Female reticulated pythons can lay over a hundred eggs at a time. The female python protects her clutch by curling up around her eggs. If necessary, the mother can even, by contracting the muscles of the body, increase her temperature in order to warm the future offspring. So it is difficult to accuse a naturally cold-blooded female python of being cold-blooded towards her children.
