Charles Burnette, age 11, of Sarasota, Florida, for his question:

Does a python really eat only one meal a year?

Some people claim that this is quite impossible. But patient observers report that a python can indeed fast for a year and even longer. No doubt the people who dispute these records tend to regard a snake as if he were a limbless mammal. This is far from the truth. A snake can devour a much larger meal at one sitting than a mammal can. His digestive processes are more thorough and the rather lazy character can conserve his food energy for a very long time.

In order to get the true story of his feeding and fasting habits, the python must be caged in captivity. Otherwise he may slither forth in secret for a few midnight snacks. Reliable observations of this sort have been made through many years. Perhaps the all time record goes to a sizeable rock python who fasted two years and nine months. During this time he did not expend a lot of energy in activity. But toward the end of his long fast he became quite restless. No doubt he was hungry. In any case he swallowed a huge meal    but he only took four meals in the next three years.

There are many reliable records of captive pythons living at least a year between meals. This is possible because he makes such economical use of his food energy. It is estimated that a nine foot python weighing about 70 pounds requires only 160 calories per day. He can, for example, devour a 20 pound pig. This amount of pork can supply about 44,000 calories    enough to last the python a year or so. However, in the wild he does not catch such a large animal for every meal. A giant reticulated python may be 30 feet long and weigh close to 300 pounds. He rarely swallows an animal weighing more than 100 pounds and usually settles for a smaller meal every few days.

In captivity, some prefer not to fast, even after big meals. A certain reticulated python downed a 28 pound goat    hooves, horns and all. Three days later he downed a 39 pound goat and after three more days he was all set to devour a 70 pound chamois. In the same zoo, a 25 foot python downed a 67 pound roebuck and three days later swallowed a 17 pound swan    feathers and all. Compared with a human heavyweight, these meals equal about SS pounds of meat at a single sitting. A python, it seems, does not have to fast after one of his enormous meals. He may be able to cope with another one in a few days. Or he may lose his appetite and feel like fasting for a year or so.

An animal’s eating habits depend on his personal systems of digestion and metabolism. Vegetarians eat a lot and digest it slowly. Meat eating mammals digest smallish meals in about a day and quickly use up their food energy. A snake digests his food very slowly and thoroughly, rejecting only such tough items as teeth and horns. And his amazing metabolism can conserve his food energy to last through a long fast.