In World-First, Burmese Python Is Found Eating Reticulated Python

In an image that’s sure to give you indigestion, a new paper has reported a world-first predation event as a Burmese python was spotted chowing down on a reticulated python. The Burmese was over 3 meters (10 feet) long with the tail-end of a reticulated in its mouth, in a rare meal that took about two hours to finish.

The Burmese python (Python bivittatus) and reticulated python (Malayopython reticulatus) both call Bangladesh home, but while the Burmese is widespread, reticulated pythons have only been recorded in Sylhet and Chittagong Divisions. Both species can be found in Bandarban District, which is in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, either out in forests or in gardens and farms.

Where their ranges cross over, these snakes may compete for resources as they’re both partial to lizards, birds, and mammals for dinner, including monkeys, deer, and even wild boar. They are highly skilled predators, which means when a python crosses another python, the results can be devastating.

Such a scene was discovered in Bandarban District back in October 2020 at Akiz Wildlife Farm. Here, the authors of a new paper encountered a Burmese python with quite the mouthful: the tail-end of a reticulated python. We know the Burmese was around 3.04 meters (9.97 feet) in length, but what with the reticulated already being on its way to its digestive tract, that exact length was harder to identify.

According to the authors, “[the Burmese python] had caught a Reticulated Python by the tail and coiled tightly around its prey before swallowing it tailfirst. The Reticulated Python tried to defend itself by constricting the Burmese Python but loosened its grip after being subjugated. From the initial strike to complete ingestion took about two hours.”

“To the best of our knowledge, this observation represents the first documented predation of M. reticulatus by P. bivittatus.”

While the 3-meter Burmese python in this story might sound like a behemoth, the reticulated python is the longest snake in the world. Capable of reaching the equivalent length of 16 corgis, they typically stretch to lengths surpassing 6 meters (12 feet), but the longest ever recorded was a whopping 9.75-meter (32-foot), found on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi in 1912.

The longest-ever Burmese python was captured in Florida back in 2023. The gigantic 5.79-meter (19.3-foot) snake sssswiped the record from a snake caught in 2020, which was 5.7 meters (18.75 feet). 

Though the clash of titans in Bangladesh ended poorly, relations between Burmese and other python species aren’t always so frosty. In South Florida, a hybrid between them and the Indian python (Python molorus) appears to be better adapted to the Everglades environment than their parents. A feat for snake kind, but a terrible blow in the invasive snake war.

The paper is published in Reptiles & Amphibians.