Indonesian Reticulated Constrictor Strikes

"During the search the team found a giant python, measuring seven metres in length which we suspected had preyed on the victim."

"The victim's body was not destroyed when we found her inside the snake, meaning that she had only been recently swallowed whole."

"The [search] team captured the snake."

Local police statement, Jambi province, Sumatra Island, Indonesia

 

"They are constrictors, so what they do is coil their body around you. They will give you a hug of death."

"The top and bottom jaw of a snake is connected by ligaments, it's quite flexible. They can swallow prey larger than the size of their head."

Matjam Rusli, snake conservationist, director of the Indonesia Herpetofauna Foundation

Reticulated pythons are believed to be able to reach over 10 metres in length  Getty Images

"Most cases are cases of farmers working in rubber and cacao plantations in Sumatra and Sulawesi, most cases occur at night", explained Indonesian snake expert Djoko Iskandar, professor at Randung Institute of Technology. Extremely long such reptiles only are capable of successfully preying on adult humans, he added. 

 

Deforestation deprives snakes of their natural habitat and sources of food; one factor cited by experts as a cause of the increasing frequency of fatal encounters between constrictors and humans. Such encounters are becoming more common in the country, given encroachment on the environment snakes depend upon.

A local women, employed as a tree tapper on an Indonesian rubber plantation, 54-year-old Jahrah, left her home Sunday morning and failed to return. When her work day was concluded and she still had not arrived back home that afternoon, her husband alerted the locals and set out to find what had happened to his wife.

He discovered his missing wife's sandals, jacket, head scarf and knife lying on the forest floor but she was nowhere about. The following morning a party searching for Jahrah (who according with Indonesian social culture is identified by only one name) encountered a heavily bloated snake, The reptile was put to death by the search team, then went on to slice open its stomach and there they discovered the unfortunate woman's remains, perfectly intact.

 

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Generally, non-venomous pythons are not known to attack humans. Instead they feed on smaller animals, securing their victims with a nonvenomous bite prior to suffocating them to death through construction, before swallowing them whole. Then they rest, immobile, as digestion begins. On occasion, as with the case in this instance, they will also prey on humans.

Snake conservationist Nathan Rusli believes it was a reticulated python that was responsible, the only reptile species living in the Sumatran province of Jambi sufficiently large to consume an adult human. Incidents such as this are considered rare in their once-a-year occurrence. Understandably, for the victims and their families, once-a-year events such as this are once too often.

Reticulated pythons are the longest snakes in the world. Photo: Shutterstock