What happens when a python eats a porcupine? Hint: It's not
pretty. A hungry snake in South Africa just found this out the hard way when it
ate a porcupine for supper and died less than a week later.
On June 14, a cyclist riding along one of the mountain bike
trails at the Lake Eland Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, spotted
this engorged snake.
No one knew at first what the snake had eaten; just that it
must have been something fairly large. Park rangers suspected the python
feasted on a small warthog or a baby impala.
Less than a week later, on Saturday, June 20, park rangers
found the python dead near the bike trail. When they cut it open, they found a
30-pound (13.8 kilograms) porcupine.
It still isn't clear if this python's spiky meal was actually
responsible for the predator's death. Rangers found the snake underneath a
rocky ledge, where it had apparently fallen. On impact, the quills inside its
engorged belly may have pierced the python's digestive tract, which could have
killed the animal, Jennifer Fuller said, general manager at the game reserve.
Believe it or not, pythons and other snakes do sometimes eat
porcupines. However, many snakes end up regretting their choice of snack
because the porcupine's quills can pierce all the way through a hungry snake's
body.
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