How to Identify a Python

A python is a non-venomous snake from the family pythonidae. The word "python" comes from the name of a giant serpent in Greek mythology. There are 26 recognized species of python within eight genera, and all are native to the tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Asia or Australia. The following steps will show how to identify a python.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. The natural habitat of pythons is Australia, sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, southern China and peninsular India. However, a population of Burmese pythons in the Everglades National Park has been self-sustaining since the late 1990s.
2. Learn the general description of a python. They are among the largest snakes and the reticulated python is the longest, with one individual measuring almost 33 feet long. Most species have heat-sensing organs called labial pits, although they are not as well developed as those in the pit vipers.
3. Find the vestigial bones of the pelvis and rear legs in pythons. Pythons are primitive snakes that have lost their limbs relatively recently in their evolutionary history. Some species still have anal spurs primarily used by the males to aid in copulation.
4. Differentiate pythons from boas. Unlike boas, pythons have teeth on a bone at the front and center of the jaw called a premaxilla.
5. Observe the feeding behavior of pythons. They ambush predators that wait for prey to come within strike range and quickly wrap a number of coils around the animal. Pythons kill by preventing their prey from inhaling, not crushing them to death as is popularly believed.