Burmese Python
Python bivittatus • Order: Squamata, Suborder: Serpentes, Family: Pythonidae, Genus: Python, Species: Python bivittatus
Native to Southeast Asia, including parts of India, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and Southern China. Extensively invasive in the United States, particularly the Florida Everglades.
Look up Burmese Python in the Snake Encyclopedia →Family
Order: Squamata, Suborder: Serpentes, Family: Pythonidae, Genus: Python, Species: Python bivittatus
Conservation
Vulnerable in native range (IUCN Red List) due to habitat loss and hunting. Invasive status in Florida renders them a major threat to local biodiversity.
Physical Description
Tan or yellowish-brown ground color with large, dark-brown, irregularly shaped blotches edged in black. The head typically features a distinct dark arrow-shaped marking. Scales are smooth, and pupils are vertical.
Size & Dimensions
Specimen in image appears large; species typically averages 3-5 meters (10-16 feet), with maximum recorded lengths reaching nearly 6 meters (19 feet).
Habitat
Subtropical and tropical environments, typically near water. They are semi-aquatic and often found in marshes, swamps, grasslands, and jungles; elevation ranges from sea level to 4,000 feet.
Diet & Feeding
Carnivorous apex predator. Diet includes birds, mammals, and even reptiles. They are ambush hunters that use constriction to kill prey before swallowing it whole.
Reproduction
Oviparous; females lay clutches of 12 to 36 eggs, though much larger clutches have been recorded. Females exhibit maternal care by 'shivering' to incubate the eggs.
Look-alikes
Commonly confused with the Reticulated Python (Malayopython reticulatus), which has a more geometric, net-like pattern, or the African Rock Python (Python sebae).
Conservation Status
Vulnerable in native range (IUCN Red List) due to habitat loss and hunting. Invasive status in Florida renders them a major threat to local biodiversity.
Cultural Significance
Significant in the pet trade and leather industry. In their invasive range, they are the focus of massive ecological management and culling programs to protect native wildlife.
Notable Features
Prehensile tail and heat-sensing pits along the labial scales that allow them to detect infrared radiation from warm-blooded prey.