Hero dad saves screaming son, 4, from 15ft python’s jaws by punching beast and battering it with sledgehammer
A HERO dad rescued his four-year-old son from the jaws of a 15ft-long python during a terrifying attack at home.
Evan Thompson fought off the giant snake after hearing his boy Clifford's bloodcurdling screams in Australia.
Briefly stunned by the impact, the snake released the boy – but then suddenly coiled, and pounced on its human prey yet again.
When they hunt, scrub pythons strike their prey, and grasp it in their strong jaws.
They immediately wrap their prey with their heavy, coiled body, increasingly tightening, until it's suffocated.
Killing is "entirely by constriction", says the sanctuary.
When it comes to devouring their catch, these pythons are "capable of swallowing animals several times bigger in diameter than their own heads.
"Imagine trying to swallow a watermelon whole - the head of the python... can perform similar feats," it adds.
Flexibile muscles and ligaments in its jaw allow them to swallow very large food items.
These snakes may need to eat only a few meals a year, because of the size of their prey.