Sentence:  It seems likely that the Indian python comes out ahead because records of its <WSD>growth</WSD> have been made more carefully and frequently ; it responds exceptionally well to captivity and does not reach proportions that make it hard to keep . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  (biology) the process of an individual organism growing organically; a purely biological unfolding of events involved in an organism changing gradually from a simple to a more complex level