Large tiger python devouring an even more substantial web python
Big ol' snake species like tiger pythons and reticulated pythons usually ain't no one's lunch, since they're too big for most other critters to handle. But things took a turn in Bangladesh.
There was an instance where a tiger python went for a reticulated python. This odd spectacle was recorded at the Akiz Wildlife Farm in October 2020, a place where these two snake species' habitats overlap. Both species share a taste for prey, snacking on animals like mammals, birds, and lizards.
Images captured the tiger python (Python bivittatus) starting to chow down on the reticulated python (Malaopython reticulatus), from the tail on up. It took about two hours for the snake to finish it off, as stated in the research team's journal article named "Reptiles and Amphibians" which was published on August 20.
Hunger probably wasn't the culprit
Once the scientists arrived, the three-meter-long tiger python had the reticulated python's tail wrapped around it. The reticulated python tried to fight back by squeezing the tiger python, but eventually let go and was sucked in from the tail end upwards.
Tiger pythons can grow up to 5.8 meters long, while reticulated pythons can stretch out up to 7.6 meters. Despite the reticulated python being larger in this instance, its dimensions were not precisely measured, explained Ashikur Rahman Shome, a wildlife ecologist at the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh, to Live Science.
The purpose behind the tiger python devouring the reticulated python is still uncertain. "There's plenty of chicken around here, which would make a better meal," said Shome. He suspects it might've been a territorial dispute where one snake ate the other to end the skirmish as quick as a flash.
This peculiar event might be the first account of two of the world's largest snake species hunting each other, according to the article. Both tiger and reticulated pythons are rated as threatened species in the United Nations' Red List.
The following instance of a tiger python feeding on a reticulated python was documented at the Akiz Wildlife Farm in October 2020. Despite the reticulated python being larger in this situation, its dimensions weren't accurately measured, as mentioned by Ashikur Rahman Shome.
