An engorged python at the Lake Eland Game Reserve in South Africa was spotted by a cyclist last June 14. Park staff speculated on what what the snake may have swallowed for dinner and they finally got their answer a week later when the snake was found dead near a bike trail--it was a porcupine.
Park staff were able to confirm after they decided to cut open the python and found an undigested 30-pound porcupine inside the snake, its guts pierced with quills. The snake, it turned out, had fallen off a rocky ledge. It wasn't clear though if its death was caused by falling off the ledge, the impact of which caused the porcupine's quills to pierce it, or that it had died from being pierced first before falling off the ledge.
According to Jennifer Fuller, Lake Eland Game Reserve general manager, it's not actually unusual for pythons to dine on porcupines, despite the very obvious risks. And it's not the only snake to take a liking to quilled animals. However, research has shown that quills cannot be digested. Had the python survived this meal, it would've still been in danger of dying because of the porcupine's quills in the future.
