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/-}d HUNTING AND DIET
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6C4'BCYW( Pythons mainly ambush prey, using their forked tongues to detect odors. The tongue flicks in and out to collect airborne chemicals and passes over a special smelling organ, called Jacobson’s organ, in the roof of the mouth. Like most snakes, pythons have relatively poor eyesight and limited hearing. They can sense some sounds and other vibrations through the ground. A special feature found in both pythons and boas is a group of heat-sensing organs in small pits along the upper lip that allow such snakes to “see” warm-blooded animals even in dark conditions. Small pythons commonly prey on lizards while larger types of pythons typically eat mammals, reptiles, and more rarely birds. Some pythons catch fish.
g @I6$Z [[~w0G~1 Pythons kill by constriction, using a powerful muscular body to squeeze a victim to death. It was once thought that pythons and other constricting snakes primarily killed by suffocating prey, gradually tightening their grip to prevent an animal from breathing. Recent research, however, shows that the enormous pressure created by the coils of such snakes can also stop circulation and even stop the heart, quickly cutting off the blood supply to the victim’s brain. In addition, the force of the coils can snap an animal’s neck or spine. Constriction may also break other bones, making the prey easier to swallow.
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/ V}o n|A Pythons typically swallow their meals starting with the victim’s head. The snakes move their own flexible head and jaws over the dead prey, alternately embedding and detaching their curved teeth on each side to “walk” themselves forward over the prey and pass it into their stomachs. If disturbed or stressed, pythons can regurgitate a meal before it has been digested.
%Pqk63QF t2" (2 The python’s powerful digestive juices can break down bones, horns, and teeth as well as hide and flesh. It may take a python days or even weeks to completely digest a large meal, leaving the snake potentially vulnerable because of the bulky bulge in its body. The snake may not need to eat again for months. Pythons can temporarily increase the size of their hearts to improve the blood supply needed in digestion. However, the snake’s ability to digest can be affected by warmer or cooler external temperatures, which can raise or lower the snake’s metabolism. If the digestive process is too slow or the meal too large, the dead victim may begin to decay inside the snake, causing blood poisoning, or in rare cases releasing gases that can cause the snake to burst open.
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In addition to hunting small-to-medium-sized plant-eating mammals such as antelope, goats, deer, or wallabies, giant pythons will sometimes attack and try to eat other predators. Documented victims include crocodiles, leopards, sun bears, and even young tigers. There are also authenticated cases of pythons attacking and sometimes killing humans. However, humans are apparently difficult for pythons to swallow headfirst because of the width of the shoulders. The snake cannot easily stretch its jaws far enough side to side to consume the shoulders of a human victim. Nonetheless, pythons have reportedly swallowed human victims on occasion.
w6dFb6~R 4n1; Bh$ Adult giant pythons have few natural enemies on land other than humans. Large crocodilians sometimes attack and eat adult pythons in water, however. Young or small pythons are prey for monitor lizards, crocodiles, storks, eagles, and predatory mammals ranging from hyenas to leopards and other cats depending on the region.