Python Devours a Porcupine
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Ever wonder what might happen if a python ate a porcupine? Well, wonder no more. One of these giant snakes which kill prey by suffocating it and then consuming it whole, recently dined on a porcupine and didn't live to brag about it.
On June 14, a cyclist riding along one of the mountain bike trails at the Lake Eland Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, spotted a much engorged snake.
The cyclist snapped a few photos of the gluttonous python and posted them to social media, where they quickly attracted the attention of locals who wanted to see the python themselves.
Lots of people came to the park in the following days just to view the swollen snake, according to Jennifer Fuller, general manager at the game reserve.
At the time the photos were taken, no one knew what the snake had eaten, just that it must have been something fairly large.
On the Lake Eland Game Reserve Facebook page, park staff and visitors speculated as to what the snake may have swallowed for dinner, suggesting everything from a small warthog to a baby impala to an errant child (that last one was posted as a joke).
But on Saturday, June 20, park rangers found the python dead near the bike trail. They decided to cut it open and have a look inside. What they found was one heck of a snack: a 13.8 kilograms porcupine.
It isn't unusual for pythons to eat porcupines, Fuller told media. In fact, many species of snakes eat porcupines and other horned or quilled animals, according to a study published in 2003 in the Journal of Herpetology. While a 15 kilogram meal might sound like too much to digest, it isn't if you're a python.
As Fuller noted, pythons in the Lake Eland Game Reserve have been spotted consuming even larger prey, including adult Oribi antelope, which can weigh nearly 22.7 kg. Pythons possess the incredible ability to alter their metabolism, as well as the size of their organs, after a meal.
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