Ecologist finds massive snake crossing road in Australia. See ‘rare sighting’
While visiting a national park in southern Australia, an ecologist encountered a large snake going about its day. Photos and video show the “rare sighting,” which excited park officials and prompted a warning.
Tali Moyle, an ecologist specializing in wildlife reintroductions, visited Gawler Ranges National Park in late September as part of her work and came face-to-face with a carpet python, the National Parks and Wildlife Service of South Australia said in an Oct. 10 Facebook post.
Video footage shows the massive carpet python slithering across a road and moving toward the bushes. The snake’s exact size is not known, but it appears to span most of the road when fully stretched out, a photo shows.
“Quite rare to see this guys in the Gawlers (region),” Moyle wrote in a Sept. 28 Instagram post, describing the python as “This one was crossing the road in the mid morning.”
The snake was identified as a Morelia imbricata, also known as a southwestern carpet python, a carnivorous species that can reach over 9 feet in length, according to the Perth Zoo.
Southwest carpet pythons live in “patches of bushland” and feed “on small mammals, birds and the occasional reptile,” the zoo said. It is “mainly nocturnal but is sometimes seen basking in the sun and moving about during the day. The carpet python finds shelter in areas such as hollow tree limbs, rock crevices and even the burrows of other animals.”
Moyle told McClatchy News in a message that she recognized the carpet python “straight away” and knew “there have been limited sightings (of the species) out there. That was the second one I have seen in three years working there!”
Park officials agreed with Moyle’s assessment, describing the September encounter as a “rare sighting.”
Officials also issued a “disclaimer,” saying that they “recommend always maintaining a respectful distance when observing animals in their natural habitat. This footage was captured by a local ecologist with specialist expertise in wildlife care.”
Gawler Ranges National Park is in the state of South Australia and a roughly 1,150-mile drive west from Sydney.
This story was originally published October 13, 2025 at 1:24 PM with the headline "Ecologist finds massive snake crossing road in Australia. See ‘rare sighting’."
