Pythons can eat up to quarter of their body weight, or 40 pounds, in one meal. It turns out those huge meals make their hearts stronger and may offer insight into how to treat heart disease in humans.

When the meal hits, the whole python's body responds, with other organs besides the heart growing to cope with the metabolic strain. It's estimated that, following a meal, the snake's metabolism ...

Grow an Olympic-sized heart with Burmese python plasma Now, a fatty acid cocktail derived from the blood of well-fed pythons has been used to promote healthy heart growth, in mice.