World's Longest Snake Dies After Capture Near Malaysia Construction Site
Thought to be the world's longest snake, a reticulated python caught at a Malaysian construction site died last week after laying an egg.
It measured 26 feet in length, with a weight of 551 pounds.
So far, another python, Medusa, holds the record of being the world's longest, 25.2 feet reticulated python, according to the Guinness World Records. Having been caught in October 2011 at her home in Kansas City, Missouri, she is thought to be a star at The Edge of Hell's Haunted House.
These reticulated pythons from Southeast Asia are the longest in the world. The latest one was seen last Thursday at a construction site in Paya Terubong, which is part of the island of Penang. The emergency services were summoned immediately, though it took them half an hour to wrestle and subdue it.
"It is eight meters in length and weighs about 250 kg," said Herme Herisyam, an official from the Penang Civil Defense Department, which caught the snake.
Being 26 feet long and 550 pounds, this snake can now be documented as the world's longest python seen alive---for a while at least.
It died on Monday after laying an egg, even though it is not clear why. Recently, a video shot showed a man kicking the snake.
Being "indeterminate growers" or growing indefinitely, though, at a slower rate with age, the reticulated pythons are slender, rather than heavy.
But why did it die? It could have laid 75 eggs at one time, said Stephen Secor, a professor in the department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alabama, who wasn't involved with the Malaysian snake's capture.
"I don't know why the snake died," Secor said. "It probably didn't die because it laid an egg."
Maybe one egg got lodged inside its body during capture, or maybe it just started laying when it was captured. Secor says a necropsy, or animal autopsy, can help to crack the mystery.
