Safari! Animal #19 - Can I please have a squeeze? - the python.
Chatu in Swahili means python. The python is the largest of African snakes and the largest of them can reach well over twenty feet. That's one loooooooong trap. The python, like its South American cousins, the boa and the anaconda, is a constrictor, which means it squeezes the breath out of its prey instead of injecting poison into it. Then, after the constricting, the python expands - so the animal it has killed, which is often bigger around than the python itself, can fit inside its stomach. First the python dislocates its jaw, then stretches its throat. Since the python has no bones in its throat - only cartilage - it can open however wide is necessary. Without bothering to chew, it gulps the carcass whole - and then sports a big lump in its physique for a few days until its dinner has been digested.