There is absolutely no need to fear that Mustard, the Albino Burmese Python, will bite you.
What happened on Thursday was an “isolated” incident.
So said John Seyjagat, executive director of the Zoological Association of America and expert with the Emperor Valley Zoo, during an interview with the Sunday Guardian on Friday, following an incident caught on camera last week where Mustard was seen biting zookeeper Walter Bunyan in his stomach.
Seyjagat said neither Mustard nor zookeeper Walter Bunyan were responsible for Thursday’s bite that shocked the country.
Instead, Seyjagat said a child knocking on the glass of Mustard’s enclosure during the time of feeding led to the incident.
“As a constrictor, this animal depends totally on innate behaviour, which is hunting using thermal imaging with its heat receptors located along the upper jaw and under the nose, and then a big strong body with large muscle mass for constricting and suffocating its prey,” Seyjagat said.
“What you will notice in the video is that Walter is standing at the door and offering the animal a rabbit. The minute he put the rabbit next to the snake, the snake lifted its head, the snake was looking away, because his heat receptors sensed that there was a prey item there.
“And as he turned around, as he turning around there was a kid knocking on the glass. You can see the little kid knocking. It distracted Walter, he probably released his grip on the tongs holding the rabbit, the rabbit dropped at the same time that snake felt the heat receptors, turned around and was about to strike at the rabbit, however, the rabbit at this instant is no longer in position. The rabbit dropped to the floor of the cage and when the snake continued the strike the next big heat receptor is Walter so it continued,” he said.
Mustard has been like the Emperor Valley Zoo’s mascot because the python is often taken around the country when employees conduct educational tours where they allow members of the public to interact with various animals. Mustard is one of the favourites and people, even children, often take photos with the python.
The incident was a mixture of “animal nature met with a distraction all at the same time,” Seyjagat said.
“It is not like the animal was seeking Walter or started crawling around and left the rabbit and left the food and went after Walter. It was not that, it was the animal went into its feeding response and when it went to strike the food item dropped and Walter remained in the thermal imaging frame as a bigger prey item generating heat so the snake went after that.”
Seyjagat said snakes and other reptiles respond to conditioning.
“And the condition is every Thursday we are going to feed you a rabbit at that door at a certain time. So whenever that door opens that snake knows it is time to feed and the minute you open that door he is waiting for that food,” he said.
“Had there not been a distraction in front of the enclosure that would not have happened.”
Seyjagat also explained that zoos use feeding as an educational tool for visitors.
Zookeeper Bunyan returned to Mustard’s enclosure on Friday and the duo patched things up. A veterinarian also visited Mustard and examined his teeth and they were said to be intact.
To ensure that a similar incident does not occur, Seyjagat suggested that a zoo employee stand at the front of the enclosure and speak to visitors.
He said because Mustard knows when feeding time is, he would not bite people when he is performing his duty as an ambassador for the zoo.
“Mustard knows the only time he will get food is when he is inside that enclosure. He does not get food when he is on a table, he does not get food when he is hanging around somebody’s neck or somebody’s waist or sitting on somebody’s lap. He does not get food then, so he associates the enclosure with food,” Seyjagat said.