Notice the line under the photo? "A snake similar to an African python". I guess they're technically not wrong as a BP is a python from Africa...
But how do you mistake this
for this
(Also, in case you're curious, that BP pic comes from a blog titled 'Dangerous Snakes')
Apparently, all snakes are the same now, and 'journalists' can't even be bothered to google properly. Even if you type in 'African Python' you get pics of Rock Pythons, though I don't really know if that's being caused by the poopstorm around this story or not.