Warning: The footage is pretty gruesome.
It’s the kind of thing you hear about from urban legends and tales of 19th-century explorers. But, as this video shows, being hunted and eaten by a python can also be a very grim reality.
An Indonesian man was found dead inside a 7-meter-long (22 feet) reticulated python on Monday, according to local news reports. Akbar Salubiro, a 25-year-old palm oil harvester, went missing from his home in Sulawesi, Indonesia on Sunday March 26.
The following night, the police discovered a swollen python in the nearby palm oil fields. As the video below shows, the python was eventually sliced open and the remains of the man were found inside.
“People had heard cries from the palm grove the night before Akbar was found in the snake's stomach,” Salubiro Junaidi, the village secretary, told the Jakarta Post. "When the snake was captured, the boots Akbar was wearing were clearly visible in the stomach of the snake. Resident[s] cut open the belly of the snake and Akbar was lifeless."
The reticulated python (Python reticulatus) species can be found in many parts of South Asia, from mainland nations of India and Pakistan to the islands of Sumatra and Singapore. It is non-venomous and typically hunts as an ambush predator, killing its prey through constriction before swallowing them whole. However, usually, this species is not considered to be a massive risk to humans in either the wild or captivity.
Even by a python’s standards, a fully grown man is a hell of a big meal. The species often eat mammals such as dogs, pigs, or primates, though there have been a handful of rare instances where they have been noted to eat children. Tragically, they are also evidently capable of preying on adult humans.
Video Credit: Viral Press
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