How One Python Died Of A Porcupine Snack

By R. Siva Kumar - 29 Jun '15 08:16AM

Now this was one super snack for a snake---a giant porcupine. On the 14^th of June, one cyclist pedaled on a mountain bike trail down the Lake Eland Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. That's when he saw as a huge, swollen serpent. He snapped it and put up the shots on social media, luring a number of locals who wanted to have a look at it, according to Jennifer Fuller, General Manager at the game reserve.

But on June 20, Saturday, the python was found dead near the bike trail. They cut it open and found a huge 30-lb. (13.8 kilograms) porcupine, according to yahoo.

It's well known that snakes eat porcupines, as well as horned or quilled animals, according to a study in the 2003 Phyllomedusa Journal of Herpetology. Fuller, bigger prey includes adult oribi antelope, of even 50 lbs. (22.7 kg).

A python can change its metabolism, as well as the size of its organs after a huge meal of an animal larger than it, according to a publication in 2013, in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The snake was found under a rocky ledge, where it had fallen, according to gizmodo. The snake's quills pierced its digestive tract and killed the snake, said Fuller. At times, quills can go in right through its body, said the study. Yet, it isn't really clear whether the porcupine killed the snake or whether the quills killed it when it fell off the ledge.

After the python's skin was removed when the porcupine was detached from the predator's digestive track, the rangers measured its huge body of 12.8 feet (3.9 meters) long. Special attention was paid to the animal's head, which featured a highly flexible jaw, allowing the python to open its mouth and swallow its prey.