Head-to-head footage has emerged showing the moment a large snake gave a possum the “kiss of death” before dropping the animal’s lifeless body to the ground.
And in a strange twist, a botanist believes the snake likely left the marsupial lying on the ground dead because its killing process had been “interrupted” by the accidental fall.
The giant beach carpet python was filmed hanging from a veranda roof with the body of a brush possum in its mouth.
As the snake tried to pull the heavy marsupial up onto the roof by wrapping it around its body, it suddenly lost its grip and the lifeless fluffy creature fell to the pavement below.
A shocking video shows a python strangling a possum to death. X/@Jason8V92TA
Australian snake catcher Daniel Busstra, based on the Sunshine Coast, suspects the python intended to pull the possum onto the rafters but accidentally dropped it.
“The possum might be sleeping in the rafters and the python would take advantage of it,” Dan told news.com.au, before offering his take on how the ordeal might have unfolded.
“The python will pick up the scent, climb up to the rafters, attack it, wrap around it and strangle it, and then as it strangles it, it will lose its balance,” he said.
The giant beach carpet python was filmed hanging from a veranda roof with the body of a brush possum in its mouth. X/@Jason8V92TA
A snake that size has between 90 and 100 teeth and usually has no problem holding a possum that high, Dan added.
“When they get a bite, if it’s a good bite, they usually hang on,” he said.
The video shows the python trying to pull the possum back, but because it was “quite heavy” and the python lost its balance, its efforts ended up being futile.
“It was definitely trying to pull it back into the rafters to repack it,” he said, revealing the snake was unlikely to chase the possum after it fell.
Coastal carpet pythons often snack on brushtail possums, he said, describing the one in the video as “average” size for pythons he’s encountered. X/@Jason8V92TA
“I assumed the snake would leave it there.”
Coastal carpet pythons often snack on brushtail possums, he said, describing the one in the video as “average” size for pythons he’s encountered.
And to add a python that size generally has no problem holding a possum, but it looks like the snake was overexerting itself and just holding onto the rafters with its “tail end”.
“It really takes a good effort to get it back on track. If it has a good grip or is wrapped around the middle of the body, it will definitely be able to do it,” he said.
“The python couldn’t do it anymore, he had to let go.”
He had heard from snake behaviorists that pythons generally won’t eat animals they kill after the process is interrupted, leading him to believe the pythons may have left the possum on the ground.
Coastal carpet pythons live mostly in Queensland, Australia’s coast, Dan said, and generally don’t cause too much trouble to humans.
He added that while the video may be confronting to some, it shows the natural side of a “healthy ecosystem”.
“I love nature and nature can be cruel at times but it is a very important part of maintaining a healthy ecosystem,” he said.
“The snakes have to eat and they all cooperate with each other in a sense. Even if people don’t like to see it, it has to happen.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
