NEN Gallery

These large snakes of the Southern Asian rainforsets eat small mammals, deer, pigs and occasionally monkeys. Pythons are constrictors, snakes that kill by wrapping around prey and squeezing until it suffocates. The snakes mouth is very flexible and allows prey to be swallowed whole. The female lays between 6-100 eggs (the number increase with age after they become mature around three years old). The eggs hatch between 60-80 days depending on temperature. They can grow to over 7m in length and have been known to kill and eat animals as big as a leopard.

Picture taken Whipsnade Zoo, July 2008.