Rather, they lie still on a branch and wriggle their tails to lure in their prey. This could cause serious injury to the snake. It is a myth that arboreal pythons, such as the green tree python, launch themselves from branches onto prey below. “Some species are capable of swimming and may lie partially submerged in shallow water waiting for prey to visit the water body.”

“Pythons are nonvenomous ambush predators,” said Viernum. According to an article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, there have been reports of the large reticulated python attacking humans. According to the San Diego Zoo, a rock python was once found with a small leopard in its stomach. Bigger pythons eat mammals as big as monkeys, wallabies, antelope and pigs. Small pythons, such as the anthill python, eat mostly rodents, lizards and small birds. Pythons have different diets, depending on their size. “They hang from branches with their prehensile tails.” Hunting and feeding habits Many species of python are excellent swimmers, while others are arboreal, according to Viernum. It is a slow form of movement and pythons can’t go more than 1 mph (1.6 kph). Pythons stiffen their ribs for support against the ground then lift their bellies and push themselves forward. This is called “rectilinear progression” movement, according to the San Diego Zoo. Behaviorīecause of their bulk, pythons move by scooting forward in a straight line. The climate of the Everglades allows it to live much as it would in a Southeast Asian swamp.

“The Burmese python is an invasive species that has been discovered living and successfully breeding in the Florida Everglades,” Viernum said. Though native to the Old World, one species of python has made its home in the Western Hemisphere.

As humans have developed python habitats, pythons have become accustomed to sheltering in urban debris and farms. Pythons shelter in hollows, under rocks, in abandoned mammal burrows and tree branches, depending on the species. Many species thrive in rain forests, though pythons also live in grasslands, woodlands, swamps, rocky outcrops, dunes and shrubs, according to the San Diego Zoo. Within Asia, Africa, Oceania and Australia, pythons stay in relatively warm, wet climates. “The spurs of males are larger than the spurs of females.” Pythons also have two lungs, a primitive characteristic, since most snakes have evolved to have only one lung. “Pythonidae is considered a primitive family of snakes mainly because pythons have remnants of a pelvis and small vestigial hind limbs, called spurs, located on either side of their cloaca,” Viernum continued.

Anaconda teeth