THE ANIMAL FILES

Burmese python

Python bivittatus

After waiting for food, its digestive system changes gear.

The Burmese python is an Asian constrictor that often waits for prey before striking. Large meals can be separated by fasting intervals, and research has made this snake a useful subject for studying the changing costs of digestion.[1]

Follow the evidence ↓
Burmese python
Image: Everglades NPS from Homestead, Florida, United States · Commons · Public domain
Hunting
Waiting, striking and constricting[1]
Food
Mostly mammals and birds[1]
Egg care
Females coil around eggs[1]

A short strike after a long wait

The python grasps prey with its teeth, wraps around it and swallows it whole. It does not chew a meal into small pieces. Young animals climb more readily, while increasing body bulk shifts much activity toward the ground.[1]

Digestion is actively rebuilt

During fasting, digestive tissues are downregulated. Following a meal, intestinal tissues and acid production increase as processing restarts. Digesting a meal itself therefore requires energy, in addition to the energy that meal will eventually supply.[1]

A mother around the clutch

Females remain coiled around eggs during incubation and can use muscle activity to generate warmth. Maternal care ends after hatching, and the young later hunt for themselves.[1]

A COMMON MIX-UP

Does a fasting snake keep digestion at full output?

No. Burmese pythons adjust digestive tissues and activity between fasting and feeding states.[1]

TRY A LITTLE REASONING

Why measure the days after a meal, not just the meal’s size?

Reveal the explanation

The tissues and metabolic demands change as digestion restarts and progresses, so timing is part of the response.[1]

Sources & editorial notes

Adapted and translated from the cited Wikipedia revisions, with source-linked reasoning. Image credit and licence are listed separately above.

Adapted and translated from Wikipedia contributors; exact revisions are linked below. CC BY-SA 4.0

  1. Wikipedia contributors — Burmese python (fixed revision; adapted and translated)
  2. NCBI Taxonomy — Python bivittatus (identity and classification)

Last fact check:

One discovery leads to another

Ball pythonThe ball is a defensive posture.Python regius ↗Green tree pythonGreen adults begin life in yellow or reddish colours.Morelia viridis ↗Common boaA young boa often climbs where a heavier adult stays on the ground.Boa constrictor ↗