A man cutting open the stomach of a python, which was found dead last Saturday after it ate a porcupine at a private game park in South Africa.

The African rock python died in unusual circumstances after swallowing the 13.8kg porcupine at Lake Eland Game Reserve, said its manager Jennifer Fuller yesterday. She added that the 3.9m-long snake should have been able to survive eating the creature, no matter how prickly its quills.