SAD: Brothers, 5 and 7 years old starngled to death in their sleep by 16-ft python

Noah and Connor 

Noah and Connor Barth were sleeping at an apartment above the Reptile Ocean pet store in Campbellton in New Brunswick, Canada. The serpent escaped its cage and passed through the air ducts, punched a hole in the ceiling and dropped onto boys as they slept and strangled them. 

Python

FACTS ABOUT THE PYTHON

The brothers are believed to have been killed by an African Rock Python, Africa's largest snake. The reptile can grow as long as 20ft and as heavy as 200lbs. It constricts its prey to death and has been known to devour whole antelopes or crocodiles. After gripping the prey, the snake coils around it and tightens its coils every time the prey exhales; death is often caused by cardiac arrest rather than by asphysxiation. As well as larger animals, it feeds on rodents, lizards, monkeys and bats.

The snake, which has brown, olive chestnut and yellow markings, is recognizable by its thick body which is covered with colored blotches that create stripes. It has a distinctive triangular pattern along the top of its head and beneath its eyes.

-Dailymail