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Updated: Mar 31, 2017 19:54 IST

Don’t bite off more than you can chew, goes the old saying.

A python at the Valmik Tiger Reserve in Bihar apparently did not heed this piece of wisdom -- and instead swallowed an adult deer in full. But the prey was a trifle too big for the python.

Forest officials at the famous safari in West Champaran district said the three-metre-long Burmese python went into a semi-consious state after swallowing its prey.

The python would regain full consciousness and will be able to slither again only after it digests the deer, said Hemkant Ray, the divisional forest officer (DFO). But the digestion process is expected to take about two weeks, he added.

Till then, he has ordered guards to protect the python from possible attempts to kill it by poachers and also from other predators.

Forest officials were witness to the python grabbing the 3.5 feet tall prey near the Gandak river in Udaipur range of VTR on Thursday.

Ray said the Burmese python is one of the five largest species of snake.

“Burmese pythons are found near water bodies, are sometimes semi-aquatic and also found in trees. The average length of an individual python is 3.7 metres (12.1 feet), but are known to reach 5.74 metres (18.8 feet),” he said.

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