Incredible photos from Australia show olive python swallowing a crocodile – via Herp Digest

BY EARTH TOUCH NEWS JULY 05 2019

We've seen pythons gobble down everything from kangaroos to possums and even porcupines (although that can end badly), but the latest sighting is a reptilian showdown of epic proportions. Kayaker Martin Muller was exploring the swamps of Mount Isa in Queensland recently when he captured this remarkable set of images of an olive python (Liasis olivaceus) devouring an Australian freshwater crocodile (Crocodylus johnstoni). GG Wildlife Rescue Inc uploaded the photos on their Facebook page last month and they have since been shared over 37,000 times.

Image © Martin Muller/GG Wildlife Rescue Inc

Olive pythons typically stick to a diet of birds, bats, rats and small mammals, but it's not out of the ordinary for a sizeable one to take on a croc (this is not the first time that Queensland has played host to a snake-vs-croc matchup). The snakes are among the largest species in Australia and can grow up to four metres (13 feet) in length. Australian freshwater crocodiles, meanwhile, usually grow to an average length of about 1.5 metres (4.9 feet) from snout to tail.

Contrary to popular belief, snakes do not unhinge or dislocate their jaws in order to swallow large prey, but rather their mouths are built for the job. Snakes have two separate lower jaws that are connected via elastic ligaments. This allows them to stretch their mouths open wider than most animals and effectively "walk" their jaws over their prey in order to consume it. It can take some time for a snake to swallow a large meal and even longer for it to digest one. Prey like this hefty croc will likely take several months to be digested.

Freshwater crocodile found dead in Melbourne park

Bird-watcher strolling in Ruffey Lake Park smelled a ‘pungent odour’ before stumbling across the rotting 1.2m reptile

Michael Safi

Tuesday 2 December 2014 07.35 GMT

A 1.2m freshwater crocodile has been found dead in a suburban park in Melbourne’s east.

Bird-watcher and photographer Andrew Wallis was strolling in Ruffey Lake Park in Templestowe on Monday when he found the reptile in long grass near some small ponds.

“I could just smell this pungent odour and assumed someone had caught a fish and left it to rot,” Wallis told the ABC. “Lo and behold it was a crocodile.”

He said the crocodile’s feet had been chewed, possibly by foxes from a nearby burrow.

Male freshwater crocodiles can grow up to three metres and are ordinarily found across Australia’s north – but not in suburban Melbourne.

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