Biting off more than it could chew cost a 20-foot python its life in
Junagadh district. The python died on Tuesday after swallowing a blue
bull ('nilgai') at Baliavad village near Gir wildlife sanctuary, a
Gujarat forest department official said. Villagers found the python
lying on the road, its belly distended beyond normal capacity, and
apparently struggling to digest the animal it had swallowed.
"Forest officials were informed and they rushed to the site to ascertain
its condition," Deputy Conservator of Forest R Senthilkumaran said on
Wednesday. "It succumbed to the internal injuries caused by the
(swallowing of) blue bull," he said. Pythons swallow their prey whole,
and take several days or even weeks to fully digest it. They are known
to prey on animals much larger in size. After eating, a python can go
several weeks, if not months, without needing to feed again.
Herpetologist and retired Vadodara Zoo Inspector, Raju Vyas said, "The
python must have swallowed the juvenile Blue bull whole.
Usually a python can easily consume such prey, but they take around 24
to 48 hours to digest it. If it is disturbed during this period by other
predators or humans, the python will vomit its prey. In the process of
the python may get injured by the hooves of its prey. Many times it has
been observed that after the python or any other snake, swallows it
prey, it becomes inactive for a while. They resort to vomiting the prey
out only to escape any possible threat." Vyas remembers an incident in
Chhota Udaipur where a python had swallowed a goat, "The python was
disturbed after it swallowed the goat, so it tried to vomit it out.
However, while vomiting the python ended up tearing its belly. The same
python was treated at our zoo and it survived after treatments.
Sometimes people out of curiosity go very close to the reptile to see
how it feeds on such large prey and end up disturbing it."
Environmentalists confirm that Gir forest houses many large pythons
which are not commonly found in urban areas. AP Singh, chief conservator
of Forest, wildlife circle, Sardar Baug, Junagadh said, "It was dead
when our team brought the python. The python's prey weighed around 15-20
kgs. It looked like the python had swallowed baby Bluebull (nilgai) and
it could not digest it. Pythons of this size are a rare find. It was
certainly a very large reptile. It is unfortunate that it died like
this."
http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/ahmedabad/others/Python-dies-after-swallowing-nilgai/articleshow/54452200.cms
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