Burmese python a very big snake

Burmese python

Scientific Name: Python bivittatus
English name: Burmese python
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Pythonidae
Link to Red List page: the red List Page of Python Burmese

Where to find

He is native of south and south-east Asia. His distribution is very large and can be found in many countries included India, China, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam.

Habitat

His habitat has just an essential characteristic, the water presence. So he prefers marshes, grassland, swamps, rainforest, and jungle.  He can stay in the water as on the trees or move slowly on the grass looking for a prey.

Dimensions

Dimensions of the Burmese python are remarkable. A male specimen on average is around 3.7/3.8 mt long. He can reach up to 5 meters but it is rare.

Lifestyle

In spring season the female lays up to 80/90 eggs. After two or three months the hatchlings break their eggs and start their life.

Did you know? the hatchlings after breaking the eggs, they don’t remain with mom but they start immediately an autonomy life.

Youngest live a lot of time on the trees hunting birds. But even they come down from the tree and the hunt small rodents. The time pass and the snake grow, so the tree will be no more a good place to stay. His dimension makes movements slow and their preys even big like deer. So when adult he will live prevalently down on the ground, easy to find especially near the riverbanks.

He is a carnivore and his diet consist generally in mammals even big like deer.

Burmese python doesn’t have poison like Mamba, so he kills his prey with constriction. With his powerful muscles squeezes the prey up to cause a cardiocirculatory arrest and consequently the death.

Major risk

The risks are many, starting with the anthropization of the territory that in his range is very extended. Another cause of risk is the hunting because of his skin. He is hunted even for the pet market. Another risk is again hunting for traditional medicine.

Finally, the main “Did You Know?”

Anyway, in contrast with the decline in his natural range, there is his invasion of one habitat not usual for him.

It has introduced in Florida some years ago. The rule says don’t introduce species in an ecosystem that never had this species. Consequence now is the unbalancing of the ecosystem with some endemic species threatened.

Nature, one more time explain us that is no good to modify ecosystems.