The pythons are oviparous snakes, meaning they lay eggs. Most species of boas are ovoviviparous snakes meaning they are born as live hatchlings from eggs incubated inside their mother. Most python species heat-sensing pits along the lips, these specialized organs enable them to detect tiny differences in temperature, allowing these snakes to hunt down warm-blooded prey, such as mammals and birds. They both have tiny vestigial limbs a remainder of their legged ancestors, that can be seen today as small 'spurs' near their tail. Both snake species also have 2 lungs, although most snake species have only 1 lung. Boas also have fewer teeth when compared to pythons. In pythons, we find a pair of upper jaw bones called the “premaxilla” that also have teeth. The bones found in the head of boas are distinct from other snake species like pythons since they have fewer bones. Pythons are exclusively Old World snakes, found in Africa like the ball python, Australia like the carpet python and olive python, and Asia.īut they were accidently introduced to North America, and since the 1980's the Burmese python, African rock python and the reticulated python are considered an invasive species in the Florida Everglades.

But a few species live in Africa and islands such as Madagascar, Fiji and Reunion Island. Most boa species live in the western hemisphere, in central and South America like the boa constrictor, emerald tree boa, or the Brazilian rainbow boa.

Python boa constrictor