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New Imaging Technology Shows Animal Insides, Python Digesting a Rat

Using a combination of computer tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), scientists Kasper Hansen and Henrik Lauridsen of Aarhus University in Denmark were able to visualize the entire internal organ structures and vascular systems (aka "guts") of a Burmese Python digesting a rat.

By choosing the right settings for contrast and light intensity during the scanning process, the scientists were able to highlight specific organs and make them appear in different colors. The non-invasive CT and MRI scans could let scientists look at animal anatomy without the need for other invasive methods such as dissections.

Here are some step-by-step images of the process. While some might call them gruesome, remember that this is simpy  the reality of nature.  Competition for resources drives evolution and makes it possible for complex organinsms to exist. 

This is a Burmese Python scanned before ingesting a rat and then at two, 16, 24, 32, 48, 72 and 132 hours after dinner. The succession of images reveals a gradual disappearance of the rat's body, accompanied by an overall expansion of the snake's intestine, shrinking of the gallbladder and a 25 percent increase in heart volume.

I love being a snake owner.  They're exceedingly fascinating animals and a never-ending learning experience.  What they lack in ability to interact or connect emotionally with humans, they make up for in exotic and aesthetic qualities, not to mention being much cheaper, lower maintenance, quieter, and SAFER than dogs.  My kids love them, and I suspect my wife has a soft spot for them as well, right Alice?