Few single- comics have been as influential and beloved as Gary Larson's The Far Side. Larson's surreal world is populated with all manner of creature: cows, wiener dogs, penguins, dinosaurs. Another common denizen of The Far Side is that much maligned and often misunderstood reptile, the humble snake. Larson's interest in serpents comes from real life experience, including one that almost ended the cartoonist's career as it was getting started.
In The Prehistory of The Far Side, Larson recounts a close call with a Burmese python. Larson raised the reptile since it was a baby, and in time, his pet grew to be over 15 feet in length, weighing around 150lbs of rippling, reptilian muscle.
According to Larson, one day his large, naturally predatory pet, "attempted to do [him] in," nearly depriving the world of The Far Side's bizarre sense of humor.
Larson Was Nearly In The Belly Of The Beast
Over the course of The Far Side's publication, snakes slithered their way into many installments of the strip, with Gary Larson's illustrations often placing an emphasis on their grotesque manner of eating or the absurdity of the limbless creatures in human situations. His fascinating can be traced back to his childhood pet python, which at one point tried to consume the cartoonist. Though he had raised the snake its entire life, at a certain point Larson realized "instead of an interesting and beautiful member of the reptile family, I was now living with a gigantic predator with a very small brain."
Gary Larson's Experience Shaped Snakes' Frequent Far Side Appearances
Larson survived his ordeal with his pet python, but was reminded of similar stories he's heard in the past of snake-owners being killed by their pets – ultimately, he opted out of snake ownership. Larson concluded, "I got rid of the snake, and in so doing improved not only my chances of living awhile longer, but my social life as well." Larson's serpentineFar Side's hapless souls. Most famous is the above: a play-pen, a discarded bottle, a teddy bear, and a snake with a worryingly large, bloated lump.
Constrictors like the Burmese python, Larson's childhood pet snake, typically lack medically-significant venom. Instead, they dispatch their prey through constriction, a gruesome process of squeezing and applying pressure to the victim. Contrary to popular belief, this kills less by suffocation and more by increasing pressure to the point the heart can no longer pump blood through the body. Not only does this prevent oxygen from reaching vital organs, the pressure can cause internal hemorrhaging and cardiac arrest. Incidents of Burmese pythons killing humans are rare, but do occur. However, there are no verified s of a Burmese python consuming an adult human – as big as they are, people are still too large for their appetites.
Larson's pet may have been dangerous, but tales it suffocated him appear to have been greatly exaggerated; ultimately, he was never in danger of ending up consumed by the python. While snakes can be rewarding pets, they are still wild animals, and larger species are very capable of harming unprepared owners. It is a lesson Gary Larson learned the hard way, but that lesson's influence continues to resonate through Larson's work. Gary Larson's pet python may have wound up needing a new home, but the snakes of The Far Side remain some of its most beloved inhabitants to this day.
