Where is the longest snake in the world?

The longest snake in the world – the python – is found in the tropics, in and around the Malay region. It is the reticulated or regal python, which can sometimes be as much as 30 feet long. It kills its prey by coiling itself round the animal and hugging it, so that it cannot breathe. Then it swallows the victim whole.

The python is strong enough to kill an ox, but chooses smaller animals which it can swallow. If a python is disturbed soon after a meal, it is likely to vomit the animal up again, still whole. It rarely attacks man and is not poisonous.

Most pythons live in trees. They also like lying in water where it is cool.

The python lays oval eggs with leathery shells, sometimes as many as 100 at a time. It guards the eggs by coiling itself round them.

The anaconda, which inhabits the rivers and swamps of Brazil, Peru and the Guianas is the largest American snake; it rivals and sometimes exceeds the python in size.