Oct 27 2022
ULET IFANSASTI/GETTY IMAGES
Pythons are able to swallow prey up to one quarter of their length and up to their own weight.
An Indonesian woman has been eaten alive by a huge python after venturing into the jungle to collect rubber.
Horrified locals managed to catch the 7 metre snake and cut it open - inside they found the undigested remains of the 54-year-old grandmother.
Jahrah, who like many Indonesians goes by just one name, had walked into the jungle alone in Jambi province, on the island of Sumatra, but did not return home.
Her family became worried and villagers sent search parties out into the forest
Two days after her disappearance, they came across the huge snake, which had an enlarged stomach, resting in a clearing.
Video footage showed local men spearing the giant snake with a long stick and bashing it on its head.
They then cut open its stomach with knives and machetes, revealing the remains of the woman.
There is speculation that the clearing of forest for palm oil cultivation in countries such as Indonesia is leading to greater contact between pythons and humans.
The chief of the local village, named Anto, said the woman would have been snatched by the snake’s jaws and then slowly suffocated to death.
“The victim did not come home after saying goodbye to her family to go to the garden collecting rubber from trees on Friday. Her family then reported her missing to the local authorities, and a search has been carried out since then.
“The snake was killed by locals, who then dissected its stomach. Everybody was shocked. It turned out that the woman we were looking for was in the snake's stomach.”
He said locals were scared because they suspected other snakes, equally large, were living in the surrounding forest.
The chief claimed that one of the snakes that had been spotted was around 8.2m long. Two goats have been killed recently by the snake, he added. Locals had tried to catch it but were intimidated by its size, he said.
The woman’s body was largely intact when the snake was sliced open because it had not had long to start digesting its meal.
Reticulated pythons are the world’s longest snakes. Found across South and South-east Asia, they can grow up to 8m long.
“The victim did not come home after saying goodbye to her family to go to the garden collecting rubber from trees on Friday. Her family then reported her missing to the local authorities, and a search has been carried out since then.
“The snake was killed by locals, who then dissected its stomach. Everybody was shocked. It turned out that the woman we were looking for was in the snake's stomach.”
He said locals were scared because they suspected other snakes, equally large, were living in the surrounding forest.
The chief claimed that one of the snakes that had been spotted was around 8.2m long. Two goats have been killed recently by the snake, he added. Locals had tried to catch it but were intimidated by its size, he said.
The woman’s body was largely intact when the snake was sliced open because it had not had long to start digesting its meal.
Reticulated pythons are the world’s longest snakes. Found across South and South-east Asia, they can grow up to 8m long.
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