The python's dinner
The image below is horrifying and rather beautiful. Danish scientists were able to combine CT and MRI scanning techniques to observe a python in the process of eating a rat. The image below shows the python about midway through dinner.
Here is a link to Bonnie Biess's article on Asylum.com explaining the process, and images of the rat at the 2, 16, 24, 32, 48, 72 and 132 hour points in its transition into python molecules.
Yes, it makes us queasy. Now imagine an entire cow on its progress through a great many human digestive tracts.
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Aw, and I thought it was going to be John Cleese downin' a BK Broiler.
You city people. Mice yummy. Be glad.
You didn't bomb the snake to death with X-rays, did you?
I must say, I was expecting a picture of Michael Palin with a plate of pasta.
I love stuff like this. Not just with the jaws, but with the rib tunnel, many snakes' digestion hinges on having so many otherwise-rigid bones hingeable. Granted the image may unhinge some.
Undigestibles will be gorgeously disgorged later, so with this fella the process is Rat/Ahhhhhh/Ptooie. (The P is silent.)
Too bad they don't have Snake N Shakes out here--I envy you folks. But Harry Crews's "Snake Steak" recipe is out there for do-it-yourselfers.
Cool!!!
Wow. My snake-loving geek kid will love this. Thanks!
This is so disturbing yet equally fascinating. Really don't know what to make of it.
Too bad snake ribs don't taste like pork ribs. You could make like 290 ribs. Granted, they would be pretty small, but damn, that's a lotta ribs.
...all into The Pot. :)
"Is it a hat?"
"No, it's a boa constrictor eating an elephant." -- Antoine de St. Exupery, "The Little Prince."
Yuk!
come on Justy, do you really want to be posting on a forum where you need to cite who that is from?
Peas and Python Pot
Remove head, skin, organs, and any remaining offal. Dice meat into edible chunks. Simmer one hour in water and lemon juice. Debone. Brown six bacon strips till crispy. Lightly saute snake in the grease. Save bacon.
Add vegetable portion(your choice) equal to the meat. This is a chef favorite.
Standard Portion: Two lbs. sauteed snake, Two cups fresh peas. One cup red kidney beans. One pack dried lentils. One chopped onion. 3 garlic cloves,minced. Fresh bacon bits. Season to taste with salt, pepper, thyme, basil. Stir. Fill with lemon water to top of mixture. Then Let the Pot work its magic. When the python meat is tender, and as green as the peas, its ready!
Bon Aspetit.
Sad you didn't get the old family recipe for a delicious Peas and Python Pot. The ladies would have loved it. Granted pythons are a little tough to clean.
Just for precision, I thought I'd mention that the photo of the animal eating the rodent (which I believe is a mouse, not a rat) depicts a very young ball python, Python regius. According to your linked article, the scans are of a different snake species, Python molurus bivittatus, the Burmese python.