Southern African rock python

The Southern African rock python has a colouration that is similar to its northern relative, however it is described as being "drabber". Below the light stripe on both snakes' head, the southern species has a narrower dark patch that resembles a stripe instead of a patch. The Central African rock python (Python sebae) has two prominent light lines from the nose, over the eye to the back of the head, which are much duller in the Southern African rock python. The northern species has considerably larger head scales. It is also noticeably inferior in size to size the Central African rock python.

Size

The Southern African rock python reaches an average length of between 2.8 and 4 m (9 ft 2 in and 13 ft 1 in). Individuals longer than 4.6 m (15 ft) are rare. Regarding body length and mass, this species exhibits sexual dimorphism, as females are significantly larger and heavier than males. Of 75 individuals measured in South Africa the longest female was 4.34 m (14.2 ft) long and weighed 53.4 kg (118 lb). The largest male was 4.23 m (13.9 ft) long and weighed 31.1 kg (69 lb). There is one reliable record of a living specimen reaching 5.56 m (18.2 ft). The longest South African python measured 5.8 m (19 ft), recorded in the former Transvaal. One specimen, reportedly 7 m (23 ft 0 in) in length, was killed by K. H. Kroff in Zambia in 1958 and was claimed to have had a 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) juvenile Nile crocodile in its stomach.

Feeding

The Southern African rock python mainly feeds on small antelopes, jackals, hares, monkeys, and occasionally fish and crocodiles.

In Where Men Still Dream, the South African journalist and author Lawrence G. Green speculates that the legend of the Grootslang, a mythical being in South African prospector folklore resembling a giant serpent and said to live in the Orange River, most likely originated from sightings of unusually large rock pythons in the river, which were exaggerated into descriptions of a monstrous being.