When a recreation park in Indonesia put a huge reticulated python on show last week, keepers insisted to reporters it was 49 feet long — making it the longest ever caught. But the find turned out to be a tall tale.
It’s still a big snake, just not a record-breaker.
When a recreation park in Indonesia put a huge reticulated python on show last week, keepers insisted to reporters it was 49 feet long. That made it the longest ever caught.
But amid growing skepticism of the claim, a photographer working for Reuters returned to the Curugsewu park in the small central Java town of Kendal on Wednesday with a measuring tape. The snake’s true length — around 21 feet.
“I have no idea why the snake has shrunk,” said one keeper when asked about the discrepancy, as the snake lounged on a tree branch inside its cage.
According to the Guinness World Records, the longest discovered snake was also a reticulated python from Indonesia. It was 33 feet long when found in Sulawesi island in 1912.
Record-breaking or not, word of the huge snake in Kendal has spread, tripling the number of visitors to the state-run park, normally known just for its scenery and waterfalls.
