Locals who killed a huge snake after suspecting it had eaten a calf because of its swollen stomach discovered it was pregnant with dozens of eggs.
The incident occurred in Nigeria, where local media said the snake had been killed over allegations it had been feeding on farmers’ livestock.
However, as these images show, the snake was not overweight from its last meal, it was actually pregnant.
Locals who killed a huge snake after suspecting it had eaten a calf because of its swollen belly discovered it was pregnant with dozens of eggs.
After opening them, dozens of eggs were found which were removed by locals, who consider them a rare delicacy.
Although it was unclear what type of snake it was, many snakes can produce up to 100 eggs at a time.
Online commentators appear to have little sympathy for the snake, with most noting that it was a good thing that around 100 more baby snakes were no longer born.
Judging by the size of the snake, which appears to be almost a foot wide and several meters long, it looks like an anaconda.
But since the anaconda species is restricted to South America, the illustrated snake is likely an African rock python.
Judging by the size of the snake, which appears to be almost 30 centimetres wide and several metres long, it looks like an anaconda. But as the anaconda species is restricted to South America, the snake in the image is likely an African python.
There have been some reports of African rock pythons, which are the largest snake on the continent and one of the largest in the world, growing to a length of up to 6 m.
Males are usually smaller than females, which can grow up to 4.8 m or more in length.
There have been some reports of the African rock python, which is the largest snake on the continent and one of the largest in the world, growing to a length of up to 6 m.
Less reliable sources from the 1950s claim that a 7-metre pregnant python was killed with a 1.5-metre baby inside her and that a second animal, measuring 7.5 metres, was also shot.
Like all pythons, the African python is nonvenomous and kills its prey by constriction.
After grabbing its prey, the snake coils around it, tightening its coils each time the victim exhales.
Death is believed to have been caused by cardiac arrest and not by asphyxiation or crushing.
The African python feeds on a variety of large rodents, monkeys, wild boar, antelopes, fruit bats, monitor lizards and even crocodiles in forested areas.
and in rats, poultry, dogs and goats in suburban areas. Occasionally, it may eat cubs of big cats such as leopards, lions and cheetahs and puppies of large dogs such as hyenas and cape-tailed hunting dogs.