Python eating a Langur monkey in central India, first having caught it, then holding it in a vice-like grip, and then slowly ingesting it, using its strong stomach muscles to knead and swallow the same!

The Pythonidae, commonly known simply as pythons, are a family of non-venomous snakes found in Africa, Asia and Australia. Among its members are some of the largest snakes in the world. Eight genera and 26 species are currently recognized. Indian Python
is also known as Python Molurus. They have a forked tongue with sensors that can help them detect odor from potential prey. The sensor organ is called the Jacobson or vomeronasal organ. Pythons also lie and wait for prey to come by. They strike with lightning speed. Large pythons are capable of eating animals such as pigs and deer. When the prey has been asphyxiated it is swallowed in full. It takes the python from one to several days to digest a prey. Here this Python is eating a langoor.

This footage is part of the professionally-shot stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM 1080i High Definition, HDV and Digital Betacam. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... wfi @ vsnl.com and [email protected].