AS the rain season is underway, there is a need of taking all necessary measures when going into a national park for a tour. It is very important to understand during rainy season water expands the hunting grounds of African rock python, and antelopes are not forced to go into one area searching for water.
Due to their weight and size, African rock pythons consider themselves to be at the top position in savannah.
The social and economic status of an animal is always judged from its ability to defend and to feed itself and this happens regardless of what others are paying when they come across this marauding killer.
In the savannah, an elephant helps the largest terrestrial animal to live almost free from attacks from predators like lions, leopards, cheetah and others. If you go to different parts of the world where the python is found you will hear people talking different things about this big snake.
Snakes are elongated, legless reptiles which have eyes but have no eyelids, all snakes are carnivores and swallow their prey whole. They are cold blooded reptiles whose internal body temperature varies with the place where the snake is found, some are nocturnal such as Egyptian cobra while others are diurnal.
Hate, fear or like them but scientists say snakes play a significant ecological role in our ecosystem with some of them being poisonous while others are less poisonous. From the slopes of Shengena Mountain near Mkomazi national park to the banks of Kiwira River people have different opinions about the African rock python. It is believed that the first ancestor of snakes evolved from burrowing lizards during the cretaceous period which is around 1000 million years ago.
Different fossils records show snakes evolved about 164 million years ago while according to holy books, the legless reptilian is blamed for tempting Adam and Eve when it lured and deceived them to eat the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge.
By picking the fruit the first couple or Adam and Eve were forced out from the Garden of Eden to the outside world where death was allowed to rule the planet but the serpent was severely punished as it lost its legs. From the Garden of Eden on the sides of Tigris and Euphrates, the snakes migrated into different parts of the world where more than 20 families and 3,600 species of snakes dwell from sea, coastal lines to mountainous areas like Kilimanjaro, Alps and Everest.
Most of these species are nonvenomous but those which are venomous use this ability for hunting their prey and sometime for self defence when they are threatened or attacked. On their sides, ecologists say big snakes such as pythons do not bite, they constrict their prey to death before swallowing them.
From Tandale to Dukambovu in Manyara, the social and economic status of an animal is always judged from its ability to defend or to feed itself. Some people will like to associate their business activities with an individual in the Savannah due to how that animal leads its life that happens regardless of what others may say about it.
Of all animals in the wild, the African rock python is one of the most feared snake in the world. Different researches indicate that a python starts its life by hunting and eating small mammals such as rats and others of that size until it grows and its body becomes too big to be fed by such a small prey.
From this stage the snake will increase its search for food while the size of its victim grows from small to medium antelopes. When this snake reaches its prime age it may become very dangerous when it includes humans in its menu.
With this in mind let us see how weight helps the African rock python to hunt and kill its victims. Scientists say these reptiles are almost exclusively mammal feeders but sometime they may eat reptiles such as lizards and crocodiles.
Recent reports from Sulawesi in Indonesia a woman was killed and swallowed by a 23 feet long python, scientists say African rock python can swallow a human because their lower jaw is indirectly attached to their skull, allowing it to expand.
A python’s lower jaw comes apart, giving it an incredible flexibility to open up and during this process which takes about an hour the snake will use its teeth to pull and push its victim’s body into an empty stomach where powerful acid is used in the second stage where digestion takes place.
Scientists say from South America, Asia and Africa south of Sahara many people are killed and eaten by these silent hunters, leaving no trace or evidence behind.
After the initial attack because bodies of their victims with their clothes are swallowed down, one scientists said we don’t hear reports of pythons killing people but some villagers are lost while hunting in the forest. It is not possible to establish their whereabouts because pythons rarely leave a carcass as a trace, the animals can digest flesh and bones.
Meanwhile scientists say documented attacks on humans are exceptionally rare, despite the species being common in many regions of Africa, and living in diverse habitats including those with agricultural activity.
Scientists say a python involves four stages with different action before it manages to eat, while under pressure from an empty stomach a python will crawl into an area very closer to a source of water.
From here, it waits for animals who come to quench their thirst, this is possible because the python stealthily lies in wait along a game trail, edges of waterways or any other place where they would find unsuspecting prey.
This is the first stage which may take hours or days before animals visit the area, scientists say pythons are endowed with great ability of going up to between 10 and 21 days without food. When nothing happens these opportunistic hunters can surprisingly endure a long period without enough food and this is when they don’t see suitable prey.
They can go for long periods on very little food until they see something big enough. The second stage is when the animals arrive and the predator crawls closer to identify its target which is followed quickly by the attack whereby the fangs target and pressed on the legs or sides of the victim to hold and control it for some seconds.
This is done before the predator embarks on another move, it will wrap its powerful coils around the victim’s body, cutting off blood circulation to the brain, blocking off airways and preventing the chest from expanding.
In different scenario, the snake will launch an attack from a closest point but if the area has no enough vegetations cover the snake will get under the water where it leaves a small part of its forehead on the surface.
Scientists say it is from this position that the python may come up to take breath and scan the whole area with its tongue. When scanning, the tongue is capable to pick any indicative signs then the snake may decide to hold its breath and get deep into water where it will remain submerged for 30 minutes.
Then to prove the information, the snake may come out to see the real situation for 15 minutes before going back into water where it will wait for another inns and outs move for up to nine to twelve hours from the same position. In an attacking position, the big reptile is capable to wait strategically and motionless for many hours for a prey to appear in a pool of water inside a national park or game reserve.
As antelopes arrive on the side of a river and start to drink water, the snake will slowly push its head into the surface and select its prime target.
That is the time when the prey is selected, the snake will push its head to an attacking position where it may stay for few seconds before launching its full scale ambush using its very long and powerful mouth.
The typical African rock python adult measures 4.8 meters but rumors from Congo forest and Selous in Tanzania and other tropical forests in the continent indicate there are bigger species measuring up to 6 meters.
Scientists say with availability of enough food, it’s possible to have larger species in tropical rain forest of western Tanzania especially in game reserves such as Lukwati, Rukwa, Luaf, Ugala, Kigosi, Moyowosi, Burigi, Kimisi, Rumanyika and national parks such as Katavi, Mahale and Gombe.
An adult African rock python which is in good health weighs from 44 to 55 kilogrammes but there are few which carry more than 91 kilogrammes, this claim was proved in 1958 when a very large African rock python measuring 7 meters was killed in one of tropical rain forests of Africa but scientists say males are typically smaller than females.
Scientists say these snakes are smart hunters which know how to use landform such as rock which are brown in colour and features like dry vegetation.
The African rock pythons are very clever capable of combining different things for camouflaging with their yellowish, brownish or grey body colours.
Like other species of snakes the body of a python is covered by irregular shaped scales which shine from their hard surfaces which provide protection to the internal delicate body system made up by different organs.
Pythons have a small triangular head marked with backward turned V symbols around both eyes which are used for hiding. Its body is covered with blackish, brownish or grey scales which have smooth surface that help the snake to penetrate easily between different vegetation and maneuvre quickly on rocks.
Miraculously the snake is said to use its forklike tongue to scan the surrounding when it is extended from the mouth to collect moisture from the air and deposit them into the upper floor of the mouth. Inside the mouth of the African rock python there is a slitlike structure where the Jacobson’s organ is located.
The slitlike structure functions as a special smelling organ which identifies tiny scent particles from the air, Like other snakes the python has high sensitive internal ears capable of detecting low frequency sounds ranging from 100 to 700 hertz which allows it to detect motion.
Scientists say that it is possible at a static position and sound waves travelling through the ground. Zoologists say big pythons are incredibly powerful animals with huge muscles to both move and eat and constrict and because of their size and weight.
From the banks of Ruvama river to the shores of lake Victoria people have many tales about these mysterious reptiles.
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