APPLE VALLEY, Minn. — – The Minnesota Zoo’s 29-year-old Burmese python Nikita has died. The 14-foot attraction suffered ongoing health issues and was euthanized, the Zoo announced. . She was one of the oldest pythons in human care and had grown to nearly 150v pounds over her long life. The zoo’s announcement: “She was a remarkable ambassador for her species, helping to build an understanding of the critical role of snakes in healthy ecosystems around the world. With her beauty and size, we are confident Nikita left a big — and lasting — impression on the millions of Zoo guests who visited her over her long life.”
Annual checkup. With zookeepers in 2016.
Python profile
Burmese pythons are native to Southeast Asia. They averages 16 feet but some grow to 29 feet. They can weigh as much as 400 pounds. Their importation has been banned in the Untied States since 2012, after becoming an invasive species in Florida. They are nocturnal.
Nikita’s life
Nikita arrived at the zoo in the 1990s. Her habitat was the nocturnal portion of the Tropics Trail — a warm and high humidity space like southeast Asia. She received a nutritious diet of small mammals, which swallowed whole. She weighed 148 pounds. It took a team of fine zookeepers, sometimes seven, to lift her.