Python

Python, a genus of Old-World serpents closely allied to the Boas of the New World, the type of a family (Pythonidce). They are not venomous, but kill their prey by crushing it between the folds of their body. The tail is prehensile, and there are traces of rudimentary hind limbs. Pythons are found in Asia, Africa, and Australasia, generally near water, which affords them an opportunity of seizing small mammals as they come to drink. There is no truth in the story that these serpents cover their prey with saliva before swallowing it; but after a full meal they sink into a torpid state. Some, if not all, incubate their eggs. Specimens of from eighteen to twenty feet long are rare; the average size is much smaller, though still larger ones are said to have been met with.