An massive African rock python was spotted in the Maasai mara shortly after it swallowed a whole hyena.The African rock python which are more active during the rainy season and dormant during the dry season kill, sink their large jaws into their victims and coil around them until blood flow stops. And eventually swallow you.
“They stop the heart,” says Max Nickerson from the Florida Museum of Natural History. “It’s amazing how fast it happens.”
To day in the morning while on a normal patrol, Tourism warden encountered a massive African rock python having swallowed a hyena. The python is Africa’s largest snake and one of the six largest snake species in the world (along with the green anaconda, reticulated python, Burmese python, Indian python, and amethystine python), specimens may approach or exceed 6 m (20 ft). The southern subspecies is generally smaller than its northern relative. The snake is found in a variety of habitats, from forests to near deserts, although usually near sources of water. The snake becomes dormant during the dry season. The African rock python kills its prey by constriction and often eats animals up to the size of antelope, occasionally even crocodiles. The snake reproduces by egg-laying. Unlike most snakes, the female protects her nest and sometimes even her hatchlings.
Python attacks are rare, which makes their gruesome outcomes all the more shocking. Typically, the snakes feed on mammals (up to the size of deer) and birds, but they’ve been seen eating more dangerous targets like crocodiles.
Studies have shown our brains may even be hardwired to detect and fear snakes, as an evolutionary form of protection.