Giant Python Feeds on Rabbit (TIME LAPSE)
Reticulated pythons are the world's longest snakes, even longer than the much heavier anaconda.
Snakes are beautiful reptiles. ❤
Inspired by our behind-the-scenes friend at Coyote Peterson's Brave Wilderness. Many thanks for tips, hints, and inspiration. We love you guys; keep up the great work.
Video filmed on December 28, 2016 of a wild reticulated python (Python reticulatus) feeding on a rabbit. We discovered the snake during a visit to rural Southeast Asia.
Video is part of a body of work that focuses on the science of reptile behavior that supported a master's thesis in zoology. Member of our crew is working on a PhD in reptile venom research.
Points in video:
Jaws of snakes do not dislocate. An enduring myth is the jaws of snakes detach from the skull. They stay connected. However, as seen in video the two lower jaws move independently of one another.
Unlike mammalian jaws which are built for chewing, a snake's jaws are connected with tendons, ligaments, and hinge joints that gives their skulls a gymnast's flexibility.
A snake's lower jaw is not joined at the front (like mammal jaws), but by an elastic ligament that allows the two halves to spread apart (connected by an elastic ligament) at the front. Each lower jaw moves independently. Jaws are always attached to the skull.
Quadrate bones at the back of snake's skulls (at attachment points to lower jaw) are not rigidly attached. They pivot allowing vertical and horizontal rotation; this allows ingestion of large prey such as this pig.
Lastly, a pterygoid bone (plate) in the roof of a snake's mouth has an "inner row" of teeth. This plate with the attached teeth move separately from the jaws to help "walk" their teeth over food and down the throat.
Close up sections of video shows the “transport cycle” also called a pterygoid walk: the python opens its jaw and alternately ratchets its upper jaw(two rows of teeth) over the surface of its prey, in turn “walking” its mouth over and around the meal.
This video focuses on the science of snake behavior to support a master's thesis.
Filmed with the University of Guadalajara for Biological and Agricultural Sciences, the division of Biological and Environmental Science Division, at the department of Botany and Zoology.