Biologists from the University of Cincinnati were curious about just how wide Burmese pythons could stretch their jaws, and also wanted to observe how they were able to achieve such an amazing feat (via Live Science). The invasive species is plentiful in the Florida Everglades, where they wreak havoc on the local ecosystem, so population control through local hunters occurs regularly. Provided with euthanized specimens through these conservation efforts, these scientists were able to put their curiosity to the test this year.
Snakes have a stretchy piece of connective tissue between their cranial cavity and lower jaw. Rather than having one whole jaw, like humans do, they have two pieces. Although they don't have any joints there to dislocate, as often falsely believed, scientists wanted to test just how far this connective tissue could stretch. Using 3D-printed probes of increasing varying sizes, the largest being greater in width than a 20 gallon bucket at about nine inches in diameter, they tested the specimens. Because they had a limited supply of smaller test subjects, using only animals killed through conservation efforts, just one python weighing about 130 pounds was able to mouth the largest probe. At their biggest, the biologists involved in the study believe a Burmese python could swallow prey with a diameter of up to 30 inches.
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