In this valley

In addition to unicorn and dead leaf butterflies, several rare lichens and ferns have also been discovered.

"Ah, the snake! what a big snake!!"

Suddenly, a young professor who was inspecting the grove suddenly screamed.

"What? Where are the snakes?" everyone hurriedly ran over to check,

Only then did I find that this 'snake' was indeed very large, about five or six meters long, and the thickest part was as thick as an adult's arm.

However, when everyone got closer, they realized that something was wrong, because the snake saw that everyone was coming, but it didn't move, and when it looked closely, it turned out to be a snake skin.

"It turned out to be a snake skin!!" Seeing that it was a snake skin, everyone wiped the cold sweat on their foreheads and immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

The snake was so big that even experts who often deal with animals would be horrified when they encountered it.

"What kind of snake is this?"

The experts then quickly put away the snakeskin, and then began to take a closer look.

"It should be a Burmese python, you see its body is thick and fat, and its head is smaller than its body............" As an expert in reptile research, Professor Gao explained the knowledge of Burmese pythons to everyone while observing.

The Burmese python is also known as the Burmese rock python, also known as the southern snake, the qin snake, and the double-banded python, which is one of the subspecies of the Asian rock python of the snake suborder Python family, and one of the six largest snakes in the world.

It is native to Southeast Asia and mostly inhabits tropical rainforests. They are easily accessible in some places close to water sources and sometimes on trees. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the previous longest Burmese python was 9.75 meters long. However, most instances are within five meters.

"Quick, Xiao Zhang help me get the tape measure!!"

Then everyone used a tape measure to measure, this snake skin is six meters and thirty-two long, which should be regarded as the longest among the Burmese pythons.

Burmese pythons grow throughout their lives, and female Burmese pythons are even larger than males. The Burmese python has a coarse body, a smaller head than the body, and is not poisonous. The snout is flattened and has 3 pairs of labial fossae (heat-sensing organs). The body is tan, with brown arrow-like spots on the dorsal head and yellow on the back, covered with large irregular brown cloud-like spots, and white on the abdomen. The cloaca is flanked by a pair of vestigial claw-like stumps.

Burmese pythons are known for their huge size, with an average length of up to 7 meters and a weight of up to 91 kilograms. The Burmese python's large number of vertebrae makes it lengthen.

And the female Burmese python is even larger than the male. A Burmese python in the Snake Safari Park in Illinois, USA, holds the record for the heaviest snake in the world, weighing 183 kilograms and measuring 8.2 meters in length in 2005.

The Burmese python's body color is lighter, with many distinct black lines, and its colorful texture is very popular, and its snakeskin has become a very high-end product in the leather industry.

In terms of eating habits, the Burmese python is a carnivorous animal like snakes in general. Burmese pythons feed on mammals, birds, and reptiles.

Burmese pythons hunt a variety of birds and mammals of all sizes, depending on their size. They bite their prey with their sharp barbed teeth, then bind their bodies to their opponents and press them tightly, using their strong muscular strength to pinch them to death.

They can also be found in the vicinity of humans, mainly because rodents are one of their main foods.

Everyone often sees the news of the Burmese python on the Internet, so Zhang Feng is very curious about whether this animal is a national protected animal.

"Professor Zhou, is the Burmese python a nationally protected animal?"

"Of course, in our Huaxia, apart from rats and cockroaches, what other animals are not protected?" Professor Zhou smiled and continued: "And the Burmese python is still a national first-class protected animal!"

Grade 1 protected animals??

This is too exaggerated, isn't it??Because in Zhang Feng's opinion, the Burmese python seems to be very common!!

What are the first-class protected animals, Zhang Feng thought about it, giant pandas, South China tigers, golden monkeys, golden leopards, ...... Wait, these animals are rare and precious Zhang Feng knows, for example, the giant panda is our national treasure, and the South China tiger is almost extinct, and now the wild South China tiger is only found in a small number in Qinglong Mountain, and other first-class protected animals needless to say also know, each of which is a very precious animal.

But what kind of trouble does this Burmese python want to make? How can it be a first-class protected animal?

You must know that in Myanmar, this animal is almost overflowing, and in our country, it has become a first-class protected animal, which is the same as the giant panda and the South China tiger, which makes Zhang Feng feel too surprised.

"Why do you think it's incredible??" Seeing Zhang Feng's stunned look, Professor Zhou asked with a smile.

Zhang Feng nodded heavily.

"Hehe, this is actually very normal, for example, the wild wolves that are rampant in Siberia are killed by the local government every year, but they are first-class protected animals in our China. ”

"The same is true of the Burmese python, although it is almost rampant in Southeast Asia, causing a lot of losses to the local area every year, but the number in our China is very small, so it will become a national first-class protected animal. Professor Zhou smiled and explained.

Hearing his words, Zhang Feng finally understood that this thing is really rare in our Huaxia, so it has become a national first-class protected animal.

"We can take this snake skin back as a display piece!!" Professor Gao smiled and put the snake skin away.

"Professor Gao, does this snake shed its skin once a year?" asked a member of the mountain patrol team curiously.

"Haha, this snake doesn't molt once a year, it usually molts three or four times a year......

Snake molting is cyclical, and it can molt about 3~4 times a year. The molting of snakes is repeated at regular intervals, and snakes molt throughout their lives.

As the snake grows, the snake will molt. Every time a snake molts its skin, it means that it grows up once, because the original skin cannot wrap the body of the snake that is growing.

Before the snake molts, it is easy to tell that the color of the snake's skin is gray and light. A day or two before molting, the snake's eyes slowly turn from jet-black to blue-white until they are milky.

The molting process is quite interesting, usually starting from the upper and lower lips, and then the skin of the head is loosened, at this time, like people taking off their stockings, the skin that has fallen off the head is turned outward, with the help of rough ground or rock crevices, or the mouth of a branch, slowly falling off from the head to the torso, and finally from the end of the tail to shed the whole old skin.

I see!!

Even Zhang Feng knew for the first time that the snake molted like this.

.。 m.