— English — The name python comes from a mythical giant serpent in Greek mythology. Pythons are primitive snakes that, like their close relatives the boas, still show signs of lizard ancestry. Pythons have traces of a pelvis and two tiny spurlike hind limbs, usually better developed in the male. They also have two functioning lungs, one large and one small—more advanced snakes have only a single lung. Pythons range from about 1 to 10 m (about 3 to 33 ft) long and can weigh up to 140 kg (about 300 lb). Female pythons tend to be larger than males. . Their jaws can have up to 200 backward curving teeth, designed to grip prey and prevent it from pulling away. The reticulated python of Southeast Asia is among the largest snakes, reaching a length of 10 m (33 ft). Pythons mainly ambush prey, using their forked tongues to detect odors. The tongue flicks in and out to collect airborne chemicals and passes over a special smelling organ, called Jacobson’s organ, in the roof of the mouth. Like most snakes, pythons have relatively poor eyesight and limited hearing. Pythons kill by constriction, using a powerful muscular body to squeeze a victim to death. It was once thought that pythons and other constricting snakes primarily killed by suffocating prey, gradually tightening their grip to prevent an animal from breathing. Recent research, however, shows that the enormous pressure created by the coils of such snakes can also stop circulation and even stop the heart, quickly cutting …
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