Pythons digest even prey bones

When eating a prey, python has digested the bone of the unfortunate animal . A new discovery of French and Indian biologists.

If the reptile is said to be greedy, then the Burmese python will be deemed to have problems.

Burmese python is a large python species living in southern Asia, and often caught for sale in the home. The largest python of this species comes from Serpent Saphari Park in Gurnee, Illinois, USA with a weight of 182.76kg and length of 8.23m. This record was recorded in 2005. The pythons are usually larger than male pythons. This species lives mainly in Southeast Asia, such as Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, China and Indonesia.

They eat very erratically but do not miss anything of prey, from bone to everything.

The co-author of the new study, Jean-Hervé Lignot from Louis Pasteur University in France, said: 'Young children usually eat once a week, adults grow once a month, and even have Can not eat for months in normal conditions. '

Burmese Python (Photo: LiveScience)

But how does python digest the prey's bones?

A new study found that these pythons are capable of absorbing calcium from the bones of prey that they swallow before, and that is a source of nutrients to supplement the body.

'Therefore, the body of python can adapt to long-term fasting, continue with huge meals, the digestive process takes place with high intensity and nutrient absorption.'

This study was published last week at the annual meeting of the Experimental Biology Society (Society of Experimental Biology) held in Glasgow, Scotland. It shows very good adaptability of this python species when they are loaded into the body with a large amount of food.

In that study, Lignot and Robert Pope from India's South Bend University observed changes in the shape and temperature of the intestines of Burmese pythons before and after their meal. Immediately after swallowing the prey, in the intestinal tissue of python there are changes of cells.

Older cells that had previously worked so hard in the digestive process were now replaced by new cells. The scientists believe that this process is like to ' upgrade ' the stomach and intestines to prepare for the next period of famine and new digestive cycles.

When conducting internal analysis of pythons, several hours after their meal, the researchers found small objects, and that is the bones of the bad prey.

A python is eating prey (Photo: Muohio.edu)

Scientists discovered that new cells are responsible for decomposing small bones to make it easier for the digestive process. Shaped like golf-tee balls (a piece of golf ball that is higher than the ground when playing the first shot in golf), these special cells decompose those small bones before giving These nutrients get into the blood.

They argue that this process allows the pythons to freely absorb calcium from the bones of their prey.

Manh Duc