RUDI HULSHOF
This voracious reptile would happily down a turkey in one – and perhaps a couple more, if available. This, after all, is a snake that can swallow a warthog.
But how does it manage? Granted, this is a very big snake – the continent’s largest, by some distance, exceptionally exceeding 5m in length and weighing over 50kg (the northern subspecies being larger than the southern). But even outsized individuals have a head little bigger than a man’s hand. The trick lies in the snake’s ability to dislocate its jaws, enabling it to engulf huge prey and work it down the oesophagus using rhythmic muscular contractions and copious lubricating saliva. Prey is swallowed headfirst and whole, hooves, horns and all. Digestion involves powerful gastric fluids – and, with really big meals, many weeks of lying around doing little else.