A reticulated python swallowed an Indonesian farmer who was reported missing after a day of harvesting palm oil. The farmer was later found dead inside the 23-foot snake.
The body of Akbar Salubiro, 25, was found inside the python when searchers looking for him came upon the unmoving snake and suspected it might have eaten the missing man, according to USA Today. Searchers also found Salubrio’s boot, his harvesting tool, and palm fruit in the same area.
Reticulated pythons rarely attack humans, usually eating small to medium-sized mammals that they squeeze to death before swallowing whole. They have dozens of sharp, curved teeth with which they grab on to their prey.
Salubiro had a wound on his back consistent with being grabbed by the python, The Associated Press reported.
Villagers didn’t notice the farmer was missing until the next day, Monday, because his wife was away visiting her parents.
Some think the snake might have attacked Salubiro because of rapid deforestation in the region, which is infringing on the habitats of many animals, including snakes.
“Because the habitat is destroyed, the snake’s natural food sources are also affected. Thus, the snake went out to the palm oil plantation to seek prey,” Rahmansyah, an agriculture expert from Hasanuddin University, told The Jakarta Post.
Junaedi, the village secretary of West Sulawesi, where Salubiro lived, said a snake that size has not been seen in the area since the 1990s.
The other farmers in the village have stayed home the past few days in their shock over the attack, The Jakarta Post reported.
Twitter users vacillated between fascination and horror over the story.
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