In late December 2003, a handful of news agencies picked up on a story about Indonesian villagers that had reportedly captured the world’s largest and heaviest reticulated python. “Officially” measured at 48+ feet and weighing almost 1,000 pounds, the reticulated python was said to eat three or four dogs per month. The original source of the story, Indonesian newspaper Republika, described how the snake was caught in Sumatra by members of the Kubu tribe.
The Guinness Book of World Records lists the longest snake ever found at 32.75 feet (10 meters), a reticulated python found in Celebes, Indonesia in 1912. The British newspaper, The Guardian, sent a reporter to Indonesia to measure the snake and to verify its reported measurements. Unsurprisingly, the reporter found the numbers to be exaggerated. The snake, known as Fragrant Flower, measured between 21 and 23 feet in length and had an estimated weight of a little over 200 pounds.
Snake handler Imam Darmanto offered a handful of reasons for the discrepancies in measurement. Things like weather, how recently the snake had eaten and when it has last shed its skin. Regardless of whether or not these variables affect a snake’s length, they certainly wouldn’t have accounted for such a large discrepancy.
Would have been cool, but not real!