Ball python: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:53, 3 June 2025

Latest revision as of 09:59, 29 July 2025

(5 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown)

Line 20:

}}

The '''ball python''' ('''''Python regius'''''), also called the '''royal [[python]]''', is a [[Python (genus)|python]] species native to [[West Africa|West]] and [[Central Africa]], where it lives in [[grassland]]s, shrublands and open forests. This [[nonvenomous]] [[Constriction|constrictor]] is the smallest of the African pythons, growing to a maximum length of {{cvt|182|cm}}.<ref name=McD99>{{cite book |author1=McDiarmid, R. W. |author2=Campbell, J. A. |author3=Touré, T. |year=1999 |title=Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference |volume=1 |publisher=Herpetologists' League |___location=Washington, DC |isbn=1-893777-00-6}}</ref> The name "ball python" refers to its tendency to curl into a ball when [[stress (biology)|stress]]ed or [[frightened]].<ref name=Meh87>{{cite book |author=Mehrtens, J. M. |year=1987 |title=Living Snakes of the World in Color |___location=New York |publisher=Sterling Publishers |isbn=080696460X |chapter=Ball Python, Royal Python (''Python regius'') |page=62 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/livingsnakesofwo00mehr/page/62}}</ref>

== Taxonomy ==

Line 62:

==In culture==

The ball python is particularly revered by the [[Igbo people]] in southeastern [[Nigeria]], who consider it symbolic of the earth, being an animal that travels so close to the ground. Even Christian Igbos treat ball pythons with great care whenever they come across one in a village or on someone's property; they either let them roam or pick them up gently and return them to a forest or field away from houses. If one is accidentally killed, many communities on Igbo land still build a coffin for the snake's remains and give it a short funeral.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hambly |first1=Wilfrid D. |title=Serpent worship in Africa |journal=Fieldiana Anthropology |series=Publication. Field Museum of Natural History |date=1931 |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=1–85 |jstor=29782194 |doi=10.5962/bhl.title.7137 |hdl=10111/UIUCOCA:serpentworshipin211hamb |oclc=678589753 |url=https://archive.org/details/serpentworshipin211hamb |doi-access=free }}{{Obsolete source|reason=This source is roughly 90 years old, and as a source of anthropology is likely to have been affected by attitudes towards non-Western cultures of the time. An updated source is required.|date=May 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Udengwu |first1=Ngozi |last2=Erojikwe |first2=Ikechukwu |last3=Nnanna |first3=Ndubuisi |title=Cultural transformation and the trials of the sacred python in text and context |journal=Creative Artist: A Journal of Theatre and Media Studies |date=2019 |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=22–49 |url=https://www.ajol.info/index.php/cajtms/article/view/214874 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Drewal |first1=Henry John |title=Interpretation, Invention, and Re-Presentation in the Worship of Mami Wata |journal=Journal of Folklore Research |date=1988 |volume=25 |issue=1/2 |pages=101–139 |jstor=3814277 }}</ref> In northwestern [[Ghana]], there is a taboo towards pythons as people consider them a savior and cannot hurt or eat them. According to folklore, a python once helped them flee from their enemies by transforming into a log to allow them to cross a river.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Diawuo |first1=Francis |last2=Issifu |first2=Abdul Karim |title=Exploring the African traditional belief systems in natural resource conservation and management in Ghana |journal=Journal of Pan African Studies |date=December 2015 |volume=8 |issue=9 |pages=115–132 |id={{Gale|A441766901}} |s2cid=146125167 |url=https://www.jpanafrican.org/docs/vol8no9/8.9-10-FDiawuo.pdf }}</ref>

==References==