40 Fun Facts About Reticulated Python

Which radio-collared animal was found inside a 22-foot reticulated python that scientists captured in Indonesia?

A sun bear weighing about 23 kg was the meal, and the python needed some ten weeks to digest it before surgeons took the tracking collar out of its gut.

Which US president first offered a $1,000 reward, never claimed, for a live snake over 30 feet long?

Theodore Roosevelt put up the first $1,000 in the early 1900s; the New York Zoological Society raised the prize to $50,000 by 1980, and no reticulated python or other giant ever collected it.

Which snake outweighs the reticulated python, the world's longest, to rank as the heaviest snake species alive?

The green anaconda is the heavyweight: the reticulated python is longer but more slender, and ranks only third for weight, behind the Burmese python as well.

Which unlikely name belonged to the 24-foot reticulated python that drew crowds at Ohio's Columbus Zoo until 2010?

Fluffy held the Guinness record for the longest snake in captivity at 24 feet; the zoo bought her from her owner in 2007 and kept her on permanent display.

The reticulated python takes its name from a Latin word that compares its colour pattern to which object?

A net is the image: reticulatus is Latin for net-like, a nod to the criss-crossing dark lines that run the length of the snake's back.

The two claw-like spurs beside a reticulated python's vent are the last remnants of which body parts?

Hind legs shrank to these spurs as snakes evolved from four-limbed ancestors; each spur still hides a remnant of the thigh bone under its claw.

In which island nation is the reticulated python, common and widespread, one of the two largest native reptiles?

Singapore is one of the most densely populated countries on Earth, yet its reticulated pythons remain common and widespread across the island.

Which extinct Colombian snake, estimated at about 42 feet, was far longer than any reticulated python ever measured?

Titanoboa lived roughly 60 million years ago in tropical wetland that is now a Colombian coal mine, and may have weighed up to a tonne.

What do the pits along a reticulated python's lips sense, letting it target prey in complete darkness?

Body heat reaches these pits as infrared radiation, so a warm mammal stands out against the cooler ground even on a moonless night.

On which Indonesian island was a farmer found inside a 23-foot reticulated python in 2017, the first confirmed case?

Sulawesi villagers found the snake the next day, and their photos and video of the recovery made this the first fully confirmed case of its kind.

The reticulated python has no venom, so which method does it use to kill the pigs and deer it seizes?

Constriction kills quickly, and lab studies of big snakes show the squeeze stops blood reaching the heart and brain rather than simply suffocating the prey.

Which skill has let the reticulated python colonise many small islands across its Southeast Asian range?

Swimming comes easily to this python: it is usually found near rivers and lakes, and individuals have been reported far out at sea.

On a shadowy forest floor, the reticulated python's bold, garish-looking pattern mainly serves which purpose?

Camouflage is the point: the high-contrast pattern breaks up the snake's outline among fallen leaves, hiding it from enemies and from the animals it hunts.

Which animals make up most of the diet of young reticulated pythons under about ten feet long?

Rats and other small mammals are the staple, so a python hunting near farmland helps keep crop-raiding rodents in check.

Twinkie, a 23-foot reticulated python, held a Guinness record as the largest captive snake of which colour form?

Albino reticulated pythons are among the forms breeders prize most, and Twinkie, kept in Fountain Valley, weighed about 370 pounds.

Released or escaped pet reticulated pythons have been found living wild in which southern US state?

Florida has recorded stray reticulated pythons in its far south, a side effect of the exotic pet trade, though a different giant python is the one overrunning the Everglades.

How do adult female reticulated pythons typically compare in size with adult males?

Much larger is the rule: females outgrow males in length and weight, and the 24- and 25-foot captive record-holders measured by Guinness were both female.

In the early 1900s the reticulated python was said to be common in busy parts of which Asian capital?

Bangkok was said to have the snakes even in its busiest districts, where they sometimes made a meal of people's domestic animals.

Which part of an adult human is the main obstacle for a reticulated python trying to swallow a person?

Shoulders are the sticking point: a full-grown python's jaws open wide enough for a human, but the width across an adult's upper frame can defeat even a giant.

Which US city's zoo kept Colossus, a reticulated python once claimed to be over 28 feet long?

Pittsburgh's Highland Park Zoo announced the figure in 1956, but when Colossus died his skeleton measured only 20 feet 10 inches.

What happens to a reticulated python's hide once it is removed, making it useless as proof of a record length?

It stretches, often by 20 to 40 percent, which is why the hide of one famous zoo giant measured three feet longer than the snake's own skeleton.

A 2011 study found a quarter of Agta hunter-gatherer men had survived reticulated python attacks in which country?

Philippines fieldwork showed the Agta also hunted and ate the snakes, so the study described people and pythons as each other's prey, predators and rivals.

Which reproductive process let Thelma, a Louisville Zoo reticulated python, produce six babies in 2012 without a male?

Parthenogenesis means an unfertilised egg develops on its own; the zoo announced the news in 2014, two years after Thelma's six healthy young arrived.

Which feature on its upper lip does a hatchling reticulated python use to slit open its shell?

An egg tooth does the cutting, and once free the hatchling gets no help: young reticulated pythons are independent within minutes.

Despite heavy hunting for the leather trade, which IUCN Red List category does the reticulated python hold?

Least Concern reflects the snake's enormous range, which runs from the Nicobar Islands and Bangladesh across most of Indonesia.

What do keepers call reticulated pythons from small island populations that reach only six to eight feet long?

Super dwarfs trace half or more of their ancestry to a handful of small islands, where limited prey and space kept the snakes a fraction of mainland size.

What elastic tissue joins the two halves of a reticulated python's lower jaw, letting it swallow a deer whole?

A ligament at the chin lets the two jawbones spread apart; contrary to popular belief, snakes never actually dislocate their jaws to feed.

A reticulated python's flicking forked tongue delivers scent particles to which structure in the roof of its mouth?

Jacobson's organ, also called the vomeronasal organ, analyses what the tongue collects, giving the snake a combined sense of taste and smell.

Which hunting strategy does a reticulated python use to catch fast animals such as deer and monkeys?

Ambush suits a heavy snake: it lies still until an animal wanders within striking range, then seizes it in its coils.

Which CITES listing regulates the international trade in reticulated python leather without banning it outright?

Appendix II covers species that are not threatened with extinction but whose trade must be controlled, and this python is one of the most economically important reptiles in the world.

Scientists accept a reticulated python length record only if the snake was measured dead or in which state?

Anaesthetised snakes lie straight; a conscious giant is so strong, and kinks its coils so badly, that several zoo claims have turned out to be feet too long.

Which island gives its name to the smaller python that is the reticulated python's closest living relative?

Timor names a small cousin just over seven feet long, a slender, partly tree-dwelling python of the Lesser Sunda Islands.

Which genus name, proposed in 2014, now separates the reticulated python from Burmese and ball pythons?

Malayopython replaced an earlier name that most taxonomists refused to use, because its description had not appeared in a reputable journal.

When first described in 1801, the reticulated python was placed in which snake genus rather than Python?

Boa reticulata was the name Johann Schneider gave it, working from two museum specimens in Göttingen; the genus Python was not proposed until 1803.

DNA studies place the reticulated python closer to the pythons of which region than to Burmese pythons?

Australasia is the surprise: genetic work in 2004 and 2008 grouped the snake with the Australian and New Guinean pythons, not with its Asian neighbours.

Which big-cat name belongs to a reticulated python colour morph linked to neurological problems in some snakes?

Jaguar pythons can develop neurological and inner-ear problems, which breeders liken to the troubled spider gene in ball pythons.

Which shapes repeat in a row down the back of a reticulated python, each flanked by smaller pale-centred markings?

Diamonds, irregular and dark-edged, run the length of the back, though colours and markings vary widely across the snake's huge range.

What do male reticulated pythons mainly use the small spurs beside their vent for?

Courtship is their job: the male rubs the spurs along the female, and she lifts her tail if she accepts him.

What can a female reticulated python do after mating if the climate is not right for breeding?

She can store the sperm inside her until conditions improve, and may mate with several males in a single season.

Which colonial trading power's Governor-General was shown a 24-foot python with a human victim inside in 1638?

Dutch East India Company chief Antonio van Diemen was visiting the Banda Islands when soldiers shot the snake, slowed by its meal, and brought it to him.