A conservationist incubated and hatched 27 python eggs after a marathon 56-day effort.

Villagers and officials in Chandaka, eastern India, erected a fence around a clutch of python eggs they had found in the wild on May 5.

The mother abandoned the eggs on May 21 and the remaining 27 eggs were shifted to be artificially incubated.

On June 29 the hatchlings began breaking their shells and by the next day, all the eggs had hatched.

Divisional Forest Officer Ramakanta Kayak said: "This is the first case in my 30 years career I have seen 100 percent success in incubation. It is a miraculous achievement."

Snake Helpline General Secretary Subhendu said: “If we had not removed the eggs, they would have been destroyed by ants and other predators.”

The 27 python babies were released in two different locations to minimise the competition among themselves for food.

A conservationist incubated 27 Indian rock python babies after putting in a marathon 56-day effort.

All the 27 eggs, which were brought in for incubation hatched, marking a rare 100% success in conservation.

As Newsflare had reported earlier on May 5 2021, villagers at Gada Niala in eastern India found a python with a clutch of eggs. On the request of Snake Helpline General Secretary Subhendu Mallik, Indian forest officials had erected a fence and deputed guards to protect the mother and her eggs.

But the mother abandoned her eggs on May 21 and fled, perhaps sensing an onsetting cyclone. Of the 30 eggs, three were destroyed by ants, and forest officials shifted 27 eggs to a facility where they were artificially incubated by Snake Helpline.

Many eggs, which were in bad shape due to dehydration, revived, regained their shape and started gaining weight.

On 29 June, the hatchlings started breaking their shells with the help of their egg tooth from inside. Subhendu also assisted the babies by cutting the eggs with a surgical blade, and by June 30 all the eggs had hatched.

Divisional Forest Officer Ramakanta Kayak said: "This is the first case in my 30 years career I have seen 100 % success in incubation. It is a miraculous achievement."

Subhendu said: “If we had not removed the eggs, they would have been destroyed by ants and other predators.”

The 27 Python babies were released in two different locations to minimise the competition among themselves for food.