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Offbeat - AFP
World's longest snake goes on show at tiny Indonesian zoo
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JAKARTA (AFP) - A primitive zoo in Indonesia is holding a 49-foot-python captured in a forest in Sumatra, a report said.
AFP/File Photo
If its vital statistics are confirmed, the python could be the world's longest snake.
The reptile measures 14.85 metres (49 feet) and weighs in at 447 kilograms (983 pounds), the Suara Merdeka regional newspaper reported Monday.
The serpent, which staff in the small recreation park have christened Kembang Wangi or Frangrant Flower, was found in a forest in Jambi on Sumatra island and was purchased from its captor before being put on show and could be the largest snake found in nearly 100 years.
According to the Guiness Book of Records, the world's longest snake ever captured was a reticulated python, which was 10-metres-long, and shot in Celebes Indonesia in 1912.
The breed of snake indigenous to southeast Asia, is commonly found in Indonesia and the Philippines and regularly tops 20 feet.
The head of the Kendal district tourism office, Agus Rivai, says the python on show district's Curug Sewu park is the region's largest, paper reported.
The reptile had been examined by researchers from the state Institute of Sciences of Indonesia, the state Gajah Mada University and the state Institute of Agriculture at Bogor, the report said.