Construction workers in Penang, Malaysia, spotted a python curled up around a tree near their work site. They called the local civil defense department, who sent men out to capture the reticulated python. It took them about a half-hour to capture the snake, which turned out to be 26 feet long and weighed 550 pounds!
Herme Herisyam, an official with Malaysian department that caught the snake, told the Guardian that workers from the construction site called the emergency services on Thursday and authorities took 30 minutes to trap the snake.
“It is eight metres in length and weighs about 250kg,” he said by phone.
It emerged later on Monday that the python died on Sunday after giving birth. Herisyam told the Guardian that the snake, which was caught on Thursday, had died after laying an egg. It is not clear why the serpent perished.
The Malaysian snake could well be the longest snake ever captured. The Guinness Book lists the current record-holder, a living reticulated python named Medusa, as the biggest, at 25 feet 2 inches. The folks from Guinness may want to check out the Penang snake. -via Atlas Obscura
(Image credit: Herme Herisyam/Malaysia Civil Defense Force)