Creatures and Anatomy: Reticulated Python
Pythons have probably my favorite skull of any animal. The reticulated python has a jaw that is in four movable parts, and the lower two can swing open over 120 degrees. Here are the main parts of a reticulated python skull:
Via SkullsUnlimited.com
Four, independently moving jaw bones, in case you thought Predator or the Covenant were original: Mother Nature has had them beat for a while! –And look at the angle of those teeth: nothing that goes into that mouth is ever coming out! Here’s a video of a guy getting bitten and his friends have to push the skull forward very hard, then open the mouth, and then pull it away. With these four independent jaw parts, they have the ability to really get their mouths around prey that is much larger than their bodies, like this African antelope:
I marked the mouth in red above
As if four independently moving jaw parts wasn’t cool enough: they have a second row of teeth! These are situated on the roof of their mouth, yes, you read that right, reticulated pythons have palatine teeth, circled below:
This is a central row of teeth behind the maxillary teeth on the upper jaw! Here are some better pics to make it harder for you to get to sleep at night:
Here’s a link to a 3d Burmese Python skull 360 render (roll) from the DigiMorph website.
Pretty sure that last image is a fake, since the teeth of pythons.. while they have a good many little sharp teeth.. are hidden under the gum line. They can occasionally lose teeth if they become lodged in something that escapes, but they do not pop out like those fake fangs there. Here is the inside of a real python mouth:
http://67.media.tumblr.com/1444dd4918cb6dd989b05960bc1eefea/tumblr_nfs9aqCWp71tumdofo1_1280.jpg
Comment by Spectre Incarnate — 2016/09/15 @ 6:17 PM
It’s definitely real, he’s trying to unhook his teeth, the wire is pushing the gums up, also, he has broken many lower teeth off on the wire.
Comment by Chris — 2016/09/16 @ 11:00 AM