A mesmerizing series of MRI photos show, for the first time, the 132-hour process of a python digesting a rat. “What is really special is that we don’t have to cut up the snakes to see this ...

A mesmerizing series of MRI photos show, for the first time, the 132-hour process of a python digesting a rat. “What is really special is that we don’t have to cut up the snakes to see this ...

The cells helps the snakes absorb the bones of their prey — and might show up in other animals that chomp their meals whole.

At around 3.15 pm, as soon as the python loosened its grip on the rat snake, the rat snake began swallowing the python tail-first. By 3.30 pm, the rat snake had completely engulfed the python alive.

Burmese pythons are killing off mammals that would normally keep Florida's rat population in check. A new study found that parts of the Florida Everglades were becoming overrun with rats as a result.