Top 5 Facts: Pythons

1. Record breaker – The longest python recorded was a reticulated python called Fluffy. Although native to SE Asia and the East Indies, Fluffy lived at a zoo in Ohio, USA, and measured a whopping 7.3m (24ft).

2. The pits – Before killing their prey through constriction, pythons seek out their warm-blooded dinner with special heat-sensing pits located in their mouths, between their eyes.

3. Mini me – Pythons can lay up to 100 eggs at a time – usually in the vacated burrows of other animals. The baby pythons are born alive and look just like miniature versions of their adult counterparts.

4. Swim – There are some 30 different species of python, all of which are good swimmers. Most species are ground-based, but some climb trees while others burrow underground.

5. Limbs – Like boas, pythons possess visible pelvic spurs, which are the evolutionary remnants of back legs. These tiny bones towards the tail end suggest they descended from lizards.