Python devours 17-year-old Indian girl

[Fuscus]

This article in SMH today
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/12/1071125662704.html
bit light on details, doesn't quite ring true.
Does anyone know of any large pythons that live in Northern India?

 

[africancichlidau]

Yes Fuscy, doesn't quite ring true does it? Besides, curry wouldn't be on the Pythons menu

 

[wattso]

http://www.zoo.org/educate/fact_sheets/python/python.htm
http://www.bagheera.com/inthewild/van_anim_python.htm
p.s. the reticulated python is also found in india. Plenty of alledged "snake eating people" stories on the web, not all beleivable though. I suggest it would be possible with a big enough snake, but i wonder if a persons clothing would blockit up and ultimatly kill it?????

 

[Fuscus]

It looks like Uttar Pradesh ( http://mapsofindia.com/maps/uttarpradesh/location.htm ) is within the range of Asian rock python (Python molurus ) according to the posts by Wattso (thanks mate). The Python molurus complex includes the burmese python which is certainly big enough to take a human.
Still, two parts of the story seem suss,
1/ the python dragged away the girl (but her sister proberly didn't stick around to check)
2/ they couldn't find the snake - but the article states that they tried digging up the snake, but a python after a large meal would proberly be somewhere sunny.

It is also winter in that part of the world - would the pythons be feeding now?

Another possiblitly is that I am too old and cynical for my own good

 

[Parko]

I read on the net recently about a few instances in America of people waking up at night with there pet reticulated(?) pythons trying to constrict them, sure the snake wasn't sneaking into bed for kisses and cuddles! Anyway considering the size of some of the prey(wild boar, deer etc) these giants eat I dont see why not,other than we probably taste like crap.

 

[sxereturn]

I call bullshit.

"Darted" out of the borrow? If moving at half a K an hour is darting...

 

[luke]

it sounds like a load of crap to me!!! the younger sister killed her !!!

 

[Amy]

If they found "some baby pythons" then they would know what type of snake it was wouldn't they? At least more than just knowing it was a python.

There are too many faults with this report, it isn't even orginal any more

 

[Tommo]

watching show on tv and read in reptiles usa, that 2 people a year in the states die from constiction from their pets. usually owners fuilt because they buy them when they are full grown and dont get them a cage. just let them run around the house

 

[saikrett]

isn't it really hard for pythons to eat humans due to their shoulders, limbs etc.

 

[Slateman]

I think that they would be able to swallow tiny girl. But who knows.
That coment about curry would make me thing that the Indian people would be safe.
Who am I to know.

 

[kevyn]

I have my doubts about this one. The snake in question would most likely be either a burmese python or a indian rock python, neither of which are known man eaters. For the main reason that they usually don't get large enough. I have my doubts also that this was a retic just because of where it happened. Any retics in India would most likely be in the southeastern region most towards the Phillipenes, Thailand, South China that sort of thing. After a meal of that size a python isn't going very far. They find a warm place and curl up for a few days. That warm place normally isn't too far from where they killed and swallowed their prey. Plus I've never heard of or seen a python "drag" anything off. I could be wrong, but it just doesn't seem likely to me. To my knowledge the known man eaters are Anacondas, African Rocks, and Reticulateds.

 

[sxereturn]

Slatey - big snakes have the ability to devour stuff much larger than a small girl. Lilly, at Australia Zoo, is a 23 foot long Reticulated Python. She weighs approximately 150kg. Every 3 weeks she eats a 30-35kg goat. That's a regular meal of small girls...she definitely has the ability to eat a 60-70kg man...

Imagine if she was full grown at 30 feet...

 

[Slateman]

wow sexreturn. That is one big meal. I will send my exwife to Australia zoo to have a look at the snake in feeding times. Hope that somebody will open door for her to have really close look at snake.

 

[kevyn]

watching show on tv and read in reptiles usa, that 2 people a year in the states die from constiction from their pets. usually owners fuilt because they buy them when they are full grown and dont get them a cage. just let them run around the house

I hear alot of attacks caused from general stupidity. Nine times out of ten someone tries to handle the animal after scenting themselves up like whatever the snake eats (holding rabbits, that sort of thing). Even when a large constrictor has you there are ways of escaping (without killing the snake), it just takes a bit of forethought and some sound safety procedures. The main thing is that a person should never attempt to handle a snake over 9 ft. by themselves.

 

[Lunar_Psycho]

Id agree that she could easily be subdued by a large python from the region, and depending on her structure, she could be swallowed too if she was reasonably thin and with small shoulders. Chances are the body is either yet to be discovered, was taken by another animal, or the whole thing is a 100% hoax!! The existing man eating snake photos (the ones where the person has apparently been fully consumed) look like fakes.

http://www.arachnophiliac.com/burrow/oddities_man_eating_snakes.htm

above link has the more commonly used pictures in the man-eating snake believe, but be advised there are GRAPHIC SCENES OF SNAKE DEATH.
The person doesn`t come close to equaling the bulge in the snake, if you look beneath the snake you can see what looks like organs which would imply the snake has already been cut open, and the last photo of the three is in a different colour which perhaps could be an attempt to conceal the lack of decomposition on the person`s skin.

One thing is unfortunately certain. Whether or not a snake did take attack and eat the girl, this will be just one more thing that will make the public think of snakes as evil creatures

 

[Fuscus]

kevyn has a point, dangerous animals are like power tools, they are at their most dangerous when you get careless.

And those photos on that link - the first photo I havn't seen before but look at the bulge in the snakes throat - that don't look right.

The others are "explained" here.
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/animals/anaconda.htm
and here
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/s/snake.htm

ANd an incidential large snake site
http://home.att.net/~crinaustin/Snake1.htm

 

[kevyn]

I first saw the photos of the totally devoured boy on www.tongs.com . I was amazed that such a reputable company would have such an obvious fake on their website. The first photo a friend of mine told me about- that that doesn't even begin to look real. I seen better photos of big-foot, the Lach Ness monster,UFOs and a 80 year old Elvis' than that one. I've always been sceptical of snakes eating people, but I read a book by Mark O'Shes were he mentions that anacondas, African rock pythons, and reticulated pythons have been confirmed to have eaten people. It's an extremely rare occurence. The only reason I believe O'Shea is because I respect him a great deal. Not just because he's on t.v. but because he's a great scientist. It would take alot to convince me that a Burmese rock python or and Indian rock python ate a human. Killed a human I'd believe. Whats the climate like in Northern India? Burms tend to like more a more humid environment, and Indians like it a bit dryer. I don't actually think they share habitat. Sorry for the long responses, I'll shut up now.

 

[Tommo]

ive seen that snake at australia zoo. it was nearly a thick as me.

 

[wattso]

Thought id drop this in. Sad story for the python.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1031214/asp/nation/story_2677585.asp