Locals k.i.lled a massive snake after accusing it of eating a cow due to its enormous tummy and discovering it was pregnant with hundreds of eggs.
The event occurred in Nigeria, where local media said that the snake was s.l.a.in after reports that it had been preying on farmers’ animals.
However, as these photographs reveal, the snake was not overweight as a result of its last meal; rather, it was pregnant. After being sliced open, hundreds of eggs were found and retrieved by locals who see them as a unique delicacy. Although it was unclear what species of snake it was, several snakes may lay up to 100 eggs at once.
Most online users appear to have little compassion for the snake, pointing out that it was a good thing that about a hundred young snakes would no longer be produced.
The snake seems to be an anaconda based on its size, which appears to be almost a foot broad and many meters long.
However, because anacondas are only found in South America, the snake in the photo is most likely an African rock python. Males are normally shorter than females, who may reach and exceed 4.8m in length.
There have been reports of African rock pythons, the continent’s largest snake and one of the world’s largest, reaching lengths of up to 6m.
According to less trustworthy stories from the 1950s, a 7m pregnant python was s.l.a.in with a 1.5m child within, and a second beast measuring 7.5m was also sh.ot d.e.a.d.
The African rock python, like other pythons, is non-venomous and k.i.l.ls its victim via constriction.
After grasping the prey, the snake coils around it, tightening its coils with each exhalation of the victim.
De.ath is believed to be the result of cardiac arrest rather than asphyxiation or crushing.
In the wild, the African rock python eats on big rodents, monkeys, warthogs, antelopes, fruit bats, monitor lizards, and even crocodiles, but in the city, it feeds on rats, chickens, dogs, and goats. It will occasionally consume the babies of big cats like leopards, lions, and cheetahs, as well as the puppies of big dogs like hyenas and cape-hunting dogs.
