Warning: Distressing Content
A 13 foot long python has been filmed regurgitating an entire stray dog it had swallowed whole in a forest in India.
The harrowing footage was captured by local wildlife enthusiasts while on a rescue mission in Udaipur in Rajasthan on Wednesday (August 14).
After noticing a large rock python squirming on the grass with a full belly, the group decided to get closer to the reptile and film what happened next.
You can watch what happened below:
The wildlife enthusiasts managed to capture the moment the reptile opened its mouth wide to release the body of the stray dog, which had been consumed by the python previously.
The man who shot the video explained:
On Wednesday morning, we were going on a rescue and on the way we saw some people disturbing a four-metre long Indian Rock Python that had eaten something.
As we reached closer to the reptile, it was spilling out the kill which was a street dog.
The python ended up vomiting the dog up out of its system, something snakes often do when they are stressed or feel a predator is lurking nearby.
The man who filmed the video went on to describe how pythons take almost half an hour to swallow their food, which can often be larger than the python’s diameter because their jaws are connected by very flexible ligaments so they can stretch around large prey.
However, despite putting all their energy into swallowing the food, they will regurgitate it whole if they sense a predator is nearby in order to replenish their energy levels.
He continued:
By regurgitating the prey as soon as possible, the reptiles collect the energy and move away.
Snakes are exclusively carnivores and extremely powerful, attacking their prey in an ambush and wrapping themselves around their prey and squeezing, slowly crushing it. They then swallow their prey whole.
Although pythons typically eat rats and other small animals, experts believe deforestation is affecting snakes’ eating habits and they are being forced to prey on larger animals for survival.
The man who shot the footage explained:
Snake experts believe the excessive deforestation is leading to serious imbalance in local ecological system forcing the reptiles and other wild animals to come closer to human habitat.
He added there have been ‘several’ cases of pythons preying on goats and dogs recently in Indian villages.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).