Giant reticulated python, the world's longest snake, is seen in a video swallowing a deer. The prey is said to sustain the snake for almost a year. The venomous creature is as wide as a human and is capable of swallowing a whole crocodile.
The video posted by Discovery UK and filmed in Indonesia shows a giant python stalking a deer at the edge of the jungle. The huge predator had not eaten for almost a year and hopes the big kill will help it to sustain another year.
The snake which grows up to 30 feet long, under the cover of darkness, follows the huge prey. It sunk its jaws into the 30 kg prey and quickly coils itself around it tightly.
The deer dies within minutes. Though the killing process was fast, the prey is huge for the snake. It takes its own time to swallow it.
For such large preys, the snake forces its windpipe out of its mouth in order to avoid suffocating while swallowing such a huge animal. It might take several hours to swallow it.
After swallowing the prey, it goes into digestive overdrive. Its heart and liver grow by almost 40 percent which gives it the power to dissolve the animal in one week.
A similar incident took place in Sri Lanka in January, where a giant python swallowed a deer at Bundala National Park in Hambantota. The tourists were amazed at the sight of the rare incident. They took a video and posted online. The 14-foot-long python curled itself around the deer before it squeezed it and swallowed.
