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The animal on the cover of Cython is a South African python (Python sebae natalensis). Also known as the South African rock python or the natal rock python, it was first identified by Sir Andrew Smith in 1833 and is variously labeled a subspecies of or a distinct but closely related species to the African rock pythons native to parts of the African continent farther north. The South African python is found in areas near permanent bodies of water from Kenya to South Africa, and, though generally smaller than its more northern relative, can grow to a length of 20 feet. The subocular mark that appears as a rule on the northern variation is smaller or entirely absent on the South African python.

The nonvenomous South African python regularly consumes animals as large as goats, which it kills by coiling itself around prey and constricting the coil with every inward breath of its victim. As with the heat-sensitive organs between the eyes and nostrils of pit vipers, pits in and around scales on the lips of the African rock python permit these snakes to hunt warm-blooded prey in the dark. Attacks on humans are rare but not unprecedented.

A female South African python lays a clutch of up to 100 hard-shelled eggs in the spring. Like other python mothers, she will then coil herself around the clutch until the eggs hatch 2 to 3 months later. Recent evidence suggests African rock python mothers will even continue to defend the brood for weeks or months after the eggs have hatched.

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