WEBVTT - Python-a-palooza! 0:00:01.480 --> 0:00:04.280 Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of I 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:13.440 Heart Radio. Hey you, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh. 0:00:13.560 --> 0:00:19.000 There's Chuck, and this is Stuff you should Know about pythons. 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:24.079 Take it, Chuck, You mean take my two pythons to 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:27.640 the vet because I have two sick pythons. Do you 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:31.159 have two sick pythons? You never heard that joke? No, 0:00:32.320 --> 0:00:35.519 but muscles? No, let's here. Well, I mean that's just 0:00:35.600 --> 0:00:37.199 kind of it. It's just a not just way to 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:40.000 say you have big biceps, so you like, I need 0:00:40.159 --> 0:00:43.360 a vet because I've got two sick pythons. Oh no, 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:45.879 I've never heard anything like that. I don't think that 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:49.000 joke even made it into The Hangover. It's like two 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:51.600 tickets to the gun show. Yeah, I've heard that one. 0:00:52.159 --> 0:00:56.040 You haven't heard two sick pythons. No, no, No, that's terrible. 0:00:56.200 --> 0:00:58.440 I think it was in The Hangover too. Oh I 0:00:58.480 --> 0:01:02.080 never saw that one. It was not good. Was the 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:05.800 first one good? Yeah? It was. In fact, I just 0:01:05.840 --> 0:01:08.399 watched some of that recently on a plane flight because 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:11.640 I just needed some comfort food and that movie was 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:18.360 really really funny. No, yeah, did you see it? Yeah? Oh, dude, 0:01:18.440 --> 0:01:22.080 Zach Alifanakos was great. Ed Helms was great. Ken Uh, 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:29.720 what's his name? Ken Burns was awesome. No, main guy Ken, 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:32.160 the guy who's the doctor in real life, the Asian actor. 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:39.880 Oh Ken Jung, yeah Jung. He was hysterical. Yeah, he's funny. Okay, 0:01:40.280 --> 0:01:43.959 Mike Tyson so funny. Tyson was funny that you know. 0:01:44.040 --> 0:01:46.039 Actually he wasn't that good in it? Now, never mind, 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:50.960 I'm not gonna talk about that. Okay, correction wrong. I'll 0:01:51.040 --> 0:01:53.000 let everyone guess who I didn't think was good out 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:56.400 of all the remaining characters. Oh, man, you're so hard 0:01:56.480 --> 0:01:58.800 on that guy. Why what did you don't even know 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:01.080 what I'm talking about? I do too, of course I 0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:04.360 know who you're talking about. Should we talk about pythons? 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:08.440 I think we should, And we're not talking about the muscles, 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:12.119 as the joke everybody knows goes. No. Instead, we're talking 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:17.639 about snakes, realize, snakes that will mess you up. Yeah. 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:21.680 I'm not so scared of pythons, no, uh, largely because 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:25.560 I'm never around them. But there's something my snake fear. 0:02:25.600 --> 0:02:27.400 And I don't have that much of a snake fear, 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:32.280 but uh, my snake fears around having bangs of a 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:36.280 snake enter my body. But pythons are you know, they 0:02:36.360 --> 0:02:38.519 have been known to kill people every once a while. 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:41.320 But from what I read, get this, chuck every single 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:44.280 person that's ever been killed in the United States by 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:46.960 a python, and take that with a grain of salt, 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:50.760 because they're not native to the United States. Um was 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:53.400 a cap was was it killed by their own by 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:58.360 a captive python? Usually it was their pet, and they 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:01.680 messed up by not fall following the proper procedures for 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:05.000 feeding it right, or they like went to sleep with 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:07.600 it wrapped around their neck yau they thought it was comforting, 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:12.000 or sadly they didn't keep their snake in an enclosure 0:03:12.040 --> 0:03:15.359 like you're supposed to, and the python got ahold of 0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:19.160 a kid in the house. That is, I can't I 0:03:19.200 --> 0:03:22.280 can't even like put my mind there. Nightmare. But we 0:03:22.320 --> 0:03:24.440 don't want to give python's bad name because UM in 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:27.120 a lot of cases there are definitely um plenty of 0:03:27.160 --> 0:03:31.880 them that are pretty docile, nice friendly UM and UM 0:03:31.960 --> 0:03:33.720 if they if a python does try to eat you, 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:37.280 it's probably a case of mistaken identity to begin with. 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:41.680 But also there's differences, UM that that make pythons seem 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:45.000 less threatening. They moved just like one mile an hour. 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:53.680 They're very slow. Um, they're not venomous. That's another big one, right, sure, yeah, 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:56.680 I think you know, Andy, I'm scared of any venomous steak, 0:03:57.440 --> 0:03:59.720 like really scared of any venomous snake, not like a 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:02.840 phobia or anything. I think that's just like a legitimate fear, 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:06.680 that's right. Uh. They're found in Asia, Africa, and Australia. 0:04:06.720 --> 0:04:10.320 They are Old World snakes and there are forty one 0:04:10.440 --> 0:04:14.840 species of python. Um, we're going to concentrate on just 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:19.120 a few of these, but these are you know, they 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:22.200 along with the anaconda, which um, maybe we should do 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:25.160 like a shorty on anaconis at some point. But these 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:28.320 are these are the big daddies that are just amazing. 0:04:28.360 --> 0:04:31.200 You can you can see a python that's twenty to 0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:35.679 thirty ft long, and to see a snake that big 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:38.200 and that heavy, it's just it's it looks like a 0:04:38.240 --> 0:04:44.120 holdover from ancient times. Yeah. Um, there are very small 0:04:44.160 --> 0:04:46.600 pythons too, though. It turns out there's one called the 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:49.360 antil python. It's only about two feet long and it's 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:53.760 adult size. Um. But for the most part, if you're 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:56.080 talking about pythons. One of the ways to I think 0:04:56.080 --> 0:04:57.520 this is probably one of the reasons why they do 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:03.320 seem so impressive too. They're bulk two length ratio is substantial, 0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:07.360 which means they're like pretty big around. Even though they're 0:05:07.400 --> 0:05:10.600 really long, they're also really big around. Um. So when 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:13.599 you see a snake like that, like, it definitely stands 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:16.680 out in your mind. Yeah. And even among big ones, 0:05:16.720 --> 0:05:21.000 there's not the same um, the same color pattern or 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:23.760 anything there. They can really really differ depending on where 0:05:23.760 --> 0:05:27.640 they are and what they need to camouflage themselves. Sometimes 0:05:27.680 --> 0:05:31.479 you see those really pretty pattern scales that look almost 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:34.880 like a copper head in some ways. Uh. Sometimes they're 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:37.880 solid though. You've seen those big, gigantic bright green ones 0:05:38.000 --> 0:05:40.880 or brown ones that are solid brown. Yeah, yeah, really 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:44.000 good looking snakes. Yeah, that's the green tree python, right, 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:47.159 that's right. Um. One thing I found, Chuck that I 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:51.080 found totally fascinating is um. A lot of python species 0:05:51.160 --> 0:05:57.440 eat warm blooded um pray. Right. Yes, So they've developed 0:05:57.440 --> 0:06:00.520 what are called labial pits, which are these little heat 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:05.080 sensing organs in their face around their mouth. Um, and 0:06:05.120 --> 0:06:08.880 it allows them to sense uh. It's basically like the 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:12.160 predator remember UM, they would switch to what looked like 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:16.080 like thermal imaging. That's what those labial pits pick up. 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:20.640 But these UM snakes still also see visible light too, 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:23.720 so they use their eyes, but that the labial pit 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:27.360 information is transferred up their trigeminal nerve through their face 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:30.560 and eventually hits like their optics the optics center in 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:33.080 their brain. So and this is really tough to wrap 0:06:33.160 --> 0:06:37.440 your head around. UM, but the the thermal imaging from 0:06:37.480 --> 0:06:41.640 the labial pits and the visible information from their eyes 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:45.920 is superimposed so that they see in a way that 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:49.080 UM at this one site put It's impossible for us 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:52.880 to imagine. Isn't that awesome unless you've seen the movie Predator? 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:56.720 And that the um labial pits are so sensitive they 0:06:56.720 --> 0:07:00.800 can detect changes in temperature of as little as point 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:05.760 zero zero one degree celsius. It's amazing, I think so too. 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:09.000 Good luck if you're a rabbit, I know you don't 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:13.360 stay in a chance. Sadly, no none, because if you 0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:16.320 do get a python around a rabbit, they will grab 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:19.040 ahold of it with its triangular shaped head and they 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:22.680 have these sharp backward curving teeth. If you ever looked 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:25.800 at a Um, if you just look up pictures of 0:07:25.840 --> 0:07:29.520 python teeth, they have a lot of sharp fangs that 0:07:29.520 --> 0:07:32.080 are kind of pointing in the backwards direction. They don't 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:35.480 because they're not venomous. They don't have those two giant, 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:39.280 big daddy venom injectors at the front, which those are 0:07:39.280 --> 0:07:41.440 the things that really scare me when it comes to snakes. 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:45.880 So pythons don't have those, but uh, they do, some 0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:51.920 of them. Arboreal pythons have these prehensible tails that, um, 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:54.760 you know, there are legends of pythons like leaping from 0:07:54.800 --> 0:07:58.360 trees to kill people or kill prey. That is not 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:00.360 true because that would hurt the snake to eat from 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:03.640 a tree. But they said in the articles I read, 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:06.160 they're like, well, they don't do that, but so don't worry. 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:08.440 But but they can really hang from the tree and 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:11.480 then come down and grab you. Right. They're famous for 0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:13.960 wearing a hat and swinging down in front of your 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:18.960 face and going hello yeah. Basically, um, So there's some 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:23.120 other things about pythons that um stand out even amongst snakes. 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:25.600 One of the things that they have that most snakes 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:29.560 don't is two lungs, which is weird because it makes 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:33.040 them primitive. Then that seems odd we have two long 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:35.880 as we'd think, well, it's evolving towards humanity. Of course, 0:08:35.920 --> 0:08:40.040 that's that's not primitive, that's the opposite. But apparently, um, 0:08:40.160 --> 0:08:43.839 all snakes, or at least pythons I should say, evolved 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:49.040 from four legged, uh two long vertebrates of some sort 0:08:49.080 --> 0:08:53.360 in the great distant past, and they just haven't evolved 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:56.280 into just a single lung like plenty of other snake 0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:59.760 families have. That's right. And because of that evolution, they 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:02.960 all so have remnants of that stuff. They have remnants 0:09:02.960 --> 0:09:06.520 of a pelvis and these little hind limbs and they're 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:10.120 called spurs located on the back, on the sides beside 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:12.680 the cloaca, and they use those for a bunch of 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:14.680 different things. But one of the things they do, and 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:17.800 we'll talk a little bit more about mating, they'll kind 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:22.120 of kind of stroke the ladies with the what's what's 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:26.800 left over of their vestigial limbs? I like that? Does 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:33.320 that creep you out? Yes? It does? It seems very sweet. So, um, 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:36.760 if you wanted to find a python in the wild, chuck, 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:41.520 where would you go? Well, already said Asia, Africa and Australia. 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:45.360 But what parts of those continents you would go to 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:48.240 where it's warm and wet. You would go maybe to 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:52.800 a rainforest, maybe in the woodlands or grasslands or the swamps. 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:57.280 They like to hide in under rocks and things. They 0:09:57.280 --> 0:10:00.360 like to hide in little animal burrows. Like I said, 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:05.040 they can't hang from tree branches. Uh, this should scare everyone, 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:06.800 and we'll get a little bit more into how they've 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:09.800 made their way to Florida in the United States. But 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:13.840 when they are found in urban areas, they shelter in 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:17.720 urban debris. So you could, uh, you could pick up 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:20.160 a spare tire or turn over a wheelbarrow and find 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:22.440 a python into there. And if you were in the 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:24.560 in the wrong place at the wrong time, somewhere in 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:30.880 Florida right in the inner cities are littered with overturned wheelbarrows, 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:36.000 well you never know. So remember I said that python's 0:10:36.200 --> 0:10:38.760 moved about one mile an hour. There's a reason for this. 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:42.439 That's really slow, just if you stop and think about it. 0:10:42.760 --> 0:10:45.439 The reason they are so slow is because they're using 0:10:45.440 --> 0:10:49.800 a form of movement called rectilinear progression um, which is 0:10:49.840 --> 0:10:54.079 where they brace themselves on the ground with their ribs 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:57.200 and then lift their body up a little bit in 0:10:57.280 --> 0:11:00.240 front and then push themselves forward and then just keep 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:04.000 repeating this. It's just kind of like, um uh, like 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:09.000 herky jerky moving forward in a herky jerky motion. Yeah. 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:12.920 I was looking at python movement and it looked like 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:16.160 a slither to me. It didn't stand out as much 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:18.680 as I thought it. What is looking really different? I 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:21.680 guess I should say, well, that's how they fool you. Well, 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:23.719 I guess so. I mean, they were definitely slow, but 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:27.600 I think I expected a lot more of a straight line, 0:11:28.040 --> 0:11:29.640 and they do go in a straight line like as 0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:33.600 opposed to like a really big S shaped slither. But 0:11:33.640 --> 0:11:36.199 there was still some slither to their diather, you know 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:39.800 what I'm saying. Sure, I mean they are snakes after all. 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:44.520 To um they're also like frequently you can find them 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:48.080 in water. Apparently pythons can stay submerged in water for 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:50.800 up to half an hour. And one of the ways 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:55.200 that they they hunt is by basically hanging out in 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:57.640 water and waiting for something to come over to get 0:11:57.640 --> 0:12:00.240 a little drinking and copal. And they're a will to 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:05.840 do this because they're um. Their their skin tones really 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:09.720 camouflaged well with like muddy mucky bottom. So it's really 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:13.920 tough to see a python, especially a Burmese python. Yeah, 0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:17.319 there was a lot of alligators similarity. Uh, it's interesting 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:20.000 when I was studying this stuff. Hey, yeah, that hadn't 0:12:20.000 --> 0:12:23.480 stuck out to me. But absolutely you're right, including how 0:12:23.520 --> 0:12:25.960 to get away from him, which we'll get to, um, 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:27.440 But maybe we should take a break and we'll come 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:30.040 back and talk a little bit about uh they're hunting 0:12:30.040 --> 0:12:33.160 and feeding and more detail right after this. Y yea, 0:13:02.320 --> 0:13:05.160 so chok, we're talking about their hunting and feeding habits 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:08.560 and um. Like I said, they they sometimes hang out 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:12.000 underwater waiting for something to come up. They might also 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:14.000 just be hanging out on a tree branch. They might 0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:16.640 just be hanging out under some brush. But what they're 0:13:16.640 --> 0:13:20.280 doing every time they're hanging out is um performing the 0:13:20.320 --> 0:13:23.120 type of hunting they do, which is ambush. They just 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:25.240 wait around for some prey to come and then come bout. 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:29.439 They get your alligators. Yeah, it is, it's like alligators. 0:13:29.520 --> 0:13:33.280 You're right, man, Um, Please stop proving your point now. 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:37.560 But that's what they do. They ambush hunt, they bite, 0:13:37.960 --> 0:13:43.199 and then they constrict bite and constrict back into the left. 0:13:43.880 --> 0:13:47.240 That's right. If you're a little python, like the little 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:48.920 guys that are two or three ft long, you're gonna 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:52.920 eat mice and rats and things like that. Uh, lizards, 0:13:52.960 --> 0:13:55.120 Maybe some birds might get in there if they're not 0:13:55.160 --> 0:14:01.880 paying attention. If they're bigger, you name it man um, pigs, antelope, monkeys. 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:06.800 I think they found a rock python that had a 0:14:06.880 --> 0:14:11.480 leopard in its stomach, A small leopard. Yeah, but that's 0:14:11.520 --> 0:14:14.920 that's terrifying. That leopard doesn't win that battle. Well, So 0:14:15.040 --> 0:14:18.320 that's something that pythons are known for, and we'll talk 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:21.560 more about it in a second. But they are capable 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:24.480 of eating things that are even bigger than they are, 0:14:24.560 --> 0:14:28.360 which doesn't make sense even for snakes, Like that's really crazy. 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:31.360 Some of the stuff that they've eaten. Um. I saw 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:34.720 a picture, it's a really sad, terrible picture of a 0:14:34.720 --> 0:14:37.760 python that tried to eat an alligator and it was 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:41.520 too big, and the python actually burst into in half 0:14:41.560 --> 0:14:45.600 and the alligator was spilled out. But they are willing 0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:49.240 to eat really large things because their body actually changes 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:54.480 to accommodate this huge um load of food that they've 0:14:54.520 --> 0:14:57.400 just now taken on. It's got too big for a 0:14:57.480 --> 0:15:00.960 stomach exactly, and now the body's like, now I gotta 0:15:01.120 --> 0:15:04.160 change in adjust because this guy doesn't know his own size. 0:15:05.120 --> 0:15:08.360 So you mentioned constriction. They are constrictors, and we'll talk 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:10.200 a little bit about how what they have in common 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:14.160 with BoA's a little bit later. But I think for many, 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:17.960 many years they thought that, um, well, they thought a 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:20.800 few things. Constriction. At first they thought was like they 0:15:20.800 --> 0:15:23.640 were crushing their prey and like breaking their bones. That's 0:15:23.680 --> 0:15:26.240 not true. Uh. Then for a while they thought that 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:29.520 they suffocated their prey and just like tightened up on 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:32.280 the lung so much that you can't breathe. That makes sense. 0:15:32.920 --> 0:15:34.400 All of this sort of makes sense. But in two 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:37.520 thousand fifteen, uh, there was a scientific paper that came 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:42.040 out that basically said, hey, with boa constrictors, we now 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:45.440 know that what they do is they they don't suffocate you. 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:48.320 What they do is they cut off your brain or 0:15:48.400 --> 0:15:51.840 your blood circulation basically, so you don't get any blood 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:54.160 to your brain and that's how you die. So it 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:56.840 may be true for pythons as well, because they are 0:15:56.880 --> 0:16:00.520 also constrictors. Obviously, yeah, it would make a lot of sense. Um, 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:03.560 And that actually makes even more sense than than preventing 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:06.560 you from breathing, because you would lose consciousness much faster 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:08.920 if they can cut off the blood supply to your brain, 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:12.800 which is what you want to happen, because when they 0:16:12.800 --> 0:16:16.160 when they capture you by biting your head like you're 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:19.960 eating head first by a python, you would probably hope, 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:23.080 no matter whether you're a person or a buddy, that 0:16:23.200 --> 0:16:25.600 you have lost consciousness by the time it starts to 0:16:25.640 --> 0:16:31.120 swallow you head first. Yeah. I saw a video of 0:16:31.200 --> 0:16:36.360 someone feeding a dead bunny to this python on a 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:42.240 porch and it was, you know, it's just it was 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:45.600 it's just not fun to watch. I mean's super interesting, 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:48.720 but uh and again it wasn't a lie bunny. But 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:51.480 you know, when you when you see an animal consuming, 0:16:51.480 --> 0:16:54.920 like unhinging that jaw and working this bunny's body into 0:16:54.960 --> 0:16:58.200 its mouth, it's just it's amazing in a nature sense. 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:01.200 But I didn't watch at all, let's put it that way. 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:05.119 I don't blame you, so, Chuck, I think we should 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:09.800 talk about the studies of trying to figure out how 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:13.680 pythons can eat things that are so much bigger than it, 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:17.440 or just so enormous to begin with, not necessarily even 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:21.000 bigger than the snake, but way bigger than anything you 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:25.240 or I could eat proportionately, right, that's right. And they've 0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:30.720 figured out thanks to um genetic sequencing, they see they 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:35.119 sequence the genome of the Burmese python um and found 0:17:35.160 --> 0:17:39.000 out that it's actually their genes changed. The way that 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:44.840 their genes express um things like proteins or affect their metabolism. 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:48.439 All this stuff actually changes when they eat, and it 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:52.040 happens really fast, and the changes that it creates are 0:17:52.240 --> 0:17:56.040 really really dramatic. Yeah, I mean the fact that this 0:17:56.160 --> 0:18:00.200 was naturally selected over I mean they think that happenedically 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:03.560 as well, right, yeah, yeah, like the that during its 0:18:03.560 --> 0:18:07.359 evolution it started picking up these these positive adaptations like 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:09.760 really fast. And the main thing they found out that 0:18:09.800 --> 0:18:11.919 it was allows pythons to eat things that are as 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:14.800 big as they are is their their organs shrink when 0:18:14.800 --> 0:18:17.840 they're eating to to make room in there, like their 0:18:17.880 --> 0:18:21.240 liver and their kidneys and their intestines. They act in 0:18:21.280 --> 0:18:24.440 their heart even get smaller while they're eating these things 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:27.480 to create space. And after like some of these things, 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:30.080 I think the liver actually doubles in mass in the 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:33.600 two days after they're done eating. Yeah, their heart actually 0:18:33.720 --> 0:18:38.399 increases in size by about in the two days after 0:18:38.480 --> 0:18:42.639 they eat, which is like that that is very unusual, 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:47.520 but it actually has to happen because the metabolism that's 0:18:47.520 --> 0:18:50.240 required to eat this huge thing, because we didn't I 0:18:50.240 --> 0:18:52.239 don't know if we said, like they'll go like a 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:55.159 week without eating, they'll eat once a week. So the 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:57.680 rest of the time they're their metabolism is just going 0:18:57.720 --> 0:19:00.560 along doing whatever. Then all of a sudden it's presented 0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:03.160 with this huge piece of food that it needs to digest. 0:19:03.359 --> 0:19:06.080 So it's a huge increase in metabolic demand, and the 0:19:06.160 --> 0:19:10.439 heart actually increases in size to accommodate that increase in 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:14.679 metabolic demand. It's amazing, it really is. And they figured 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:18.320 out that it's their genes just become super active and 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:21.800 start producing way more proteins and um just doing all 0:19:21.800 --> 0:19:24.880 this stuff that under normal circumstances when they're not digesting 0:19:24.960 --> 0:19:28.800 food just doesn't. It's just not how their genes behave. 0:19:29.720 --> 0:19:32.800 And if you're wondering how they're breathing with a rabbit 0:19:32.920 --> 0:19:36.119 stuff down their throats, they have a windpipe that opens 0:19:36.119 --> 0:19:37.840 at the front of the mouth so they can breathe 0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:40.160 while they're doing this stuff. Yeah, I saw it described 0:19:40.200 --> 0:19:45.200 as kind of popping up like a periscope. Yeah, that's amazing. 0:19:46.040 --> 0:19:48.760 So what about reproduction. I know that you really like 0:19:48.840 --> 0:19:51.040 how they court. Do you want to talk some more 0:19:51.080 --> 0:19:54.280 about that. Yeah. When they make kind of depends on 0:19:54.320 --> 0:19:57.359 which species it is. It's not set in stone, but 0:19:57.480 --> 0:20:01.600 they do. Those males use those spurs that were originally 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:06.600 limbs to stroke the female, and once they impregnate them, 0:20:06.680 --> 0:20:10.399 the ladies they lay eggs. Actually, um, which is another 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:13.760 thing that's different than other boas even is that they 0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:18.080 give birth to live young, but pythons give give birth 0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:20.359 to little egg Well, I guess big eggs because some 0:20:20.400 --> 0:20:22.120 of these things are a couple of feet long when 0:20:22.119 --> 0:20:23.960 they come out when they hatch. I saw there about 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:27.000 the size of chicken eggs. Well, how could they be 0:20:27.080 --> 0:20:29.399 two ft long? I don't know, crazy, I don't know, 0:20:31.000 --> 0:20:33.080 I don't know. I guess maybe they eat themselves while 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:39.840 they're in the egg. Uh. They do provide most of 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:42.720 the time some parental care, and they make little nest 0:20:42.800 --> 0:20:46.680 Mama does and keep some warm and like protected spaces 0:20:46.760 --> 0:20:49.680 under logs and stuff like that, and you know, sort 0:20:49.680 --> 0:20:53.680 of burrowed areas and they coil around them. Um. If 0:20:53.840 --> 0:20:57.639 they since temperature changing whatever, the mother will sort of 0:20:58.240 --> 0:21:00.720 flex her muscles and sort of can tracked in place 0:21:00.760 --> 0:21:03.240 to heat up her own body to warm up the eggs. 0:21:03.800 --> 0:21:08.719 That's called shivering thermogenesis. And they're not feeding when this 0:21:08.800 --> 0:21:11.520 is going on. They're only leaving their nest if they 0:21:11.560 --> 0:21:13.880 want to really warm up, and they call that basking, 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:16.720 just like we do. Yeah, and then the eggs hatch 0:21:16.760 --> 0:21:20.639 and the mom says, see you, and that's that um. 0:21:20.720 --> 0:21:24.320 And depending on the species, like they they will um 0:21:24.520 --> 0:21:29.360 reproduce fairly frequently. I think a female snake um produces 0:21:29.359 --> 0:21:32.600 about forty eggs every two years. They start breeding at 0:21:32.600 --> 0:21:36.960 about three to four years old, so like they're you know, 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:41.760 a pretty successful family of snakes. They reproduce pretty frequently. 0:21:42.160 --> 0:21:44.800 And then I guess because the hatchlings are so big 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:47.280 when they're born, they don't really need to be raised 0:21:47.359 --> 0:21:50.120 or nurtured or protected. They're just on their own from 0:21:50.160 --> 0:21:52.639 the moment they come out of the egg, and they 0:21:52.640 --> 0:21:56.280 can live decades. They can live a long long time, 0:21:56.320 --> 0:21:59.439 which is why a lot of snake enthusiasts love him 0:21:59.440 --> 0:22:01.920 as pets. I think the San Diego zeus says about 0:22:01.960 --> 0:22:05.480 thirty five years, which is that's a long time. Yeah, 0:22:05.520 --> 0:22:08.920 that's at the tippy top. So, Chuck, I believe that 0:22:08.960 --> 0:22:13.200 we should speak uh at length about the Burmese python 0:22:13.400 --> 0:22:17.080 because this is as far as pythons go, it's very 0:22:17.160 --> 0:22:20.560 very beautiful snake. It's actually highly prized for its skin. 0:22:20.760 --> 0:22:24.000 Sad for the Burmese python, but it also has a 0:22:24.040 --> 0:22:30.359 really interesting story here in the United States. That's right. Um. 0:22:30.480 --> 0:22:34.000 They have pale tan, sort of gray bodies sometimes yellow brown. 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:38.720 They have these big sort of reddish splotches. Uh. And 0:22:38.720 --> 0:22:40.760 they have their sort of um almost like they were 0:22:40.840 --> 0:22:44.320 drawn around their outlined in different colors white or yellow usually, 0:22:44.359 --> 0:22:48.520 and they are really pretty. And they are in Florida. Um, 0:22:48.560 --> 0:22:51.680 just like uh, we were talking about the alligators. There's 0:22:53.119 --> 0:22:54.800 I don't I mean, I guess you would call it 0:22:54.840 --> 0:22:57.800 a python problem. In one sense, it's it's not as 0:22:57.880 --> 0:23:00.399 much of a problem in that they're not really like 0:23:00.480 --> 0:23:04.120 coming out of the wild and attacking people really um, 0:23:04.160 --> 0:23:07.520 but they're they're make wreaking havoc on the local ecosystem 0:23:07.560 --> 0:23:10.520 there as far as mammals go, it's an ecological disaster 0:23:10.880 --> 0:23:13.560 as a matter of fact. Like it's if you're in 0:23:13.600 --> 0:23:16.720 the Everglades and you care about biodiversity, you you have 0:23:16.840 --> 0:23:20.080 a real problem with the Burmese python, which have been 0:23:20.119 --> 0:23:25.280 really successful in setting up shop in the Everglades specifically. UM. 0:23:25.320 --> 0:23:28.320 But they're an invasive species because they're not supposed to 0:23:28.359 --> 0:23:31.719 be there. There haven't been snakes this large native to 0:23:31.800 --> 0:23:36.080 the to the America's since long before humans were around. 0:23:36.560 --> 0:23:39.600 So they came in and there they have no predators 0:23:39.920 --> 0:23:43.800 there themselves, like an apex predator, and um, they've been 0:23:43.840 --> 0:23:47.119 eating everything they can get their hands on, basically. And 0:23:47.200 --> 0:23:50.840 the crazy thing about this is that they set up 0:23:50.920 --> 0:23:54.840 shop in the Everglades because people started releasing them um 0:23:55.000 --> 0:23:58.160 as pets. They were pets that got released and abandoned, 0:23:58.359 --> 0:24:02.399 and now they're huge problem in Florida. Yeah. And and 0:24:02.520 --> 0:24:08.160 not just like oh, you know there's been a decline 0:24:08.200 --> 0:24:11.320 in in this roadent or this species. There was a 0:24:11.320 --> 0:24:14.120 study and this is in twelve even Uh, the raccoon 0:24:14.320 --> 0:24:20.000