Bryan West was on the return trek from Pages Peak in Queensland’s Springbrook National forest when he discovered an uncommon sight– snake cannibalism in development. 2 yellow-faced whip snakes were fighting it out, and in the end, as West informed Yahoo News Australia,” [the] big fella gobbled up the smaller sized fella.”
While it’s not that uncommon to see a snake consuming another snake, what is uncommon is seeing a snake consuming a snake of the same species.
“I was surprised to see 2 of the same type [of snake] fighting and I was curious to see how it would end,” West stated. “It appeared for a while like the kid may dominate.”
In the video, you can see the two snakes wrestle around in the dirt as West records. While it would have been great to report an underdog story (and West says the small yellow-faced whip snake set up an excellent fight), the bigger snake won.
Watch snake cannibalism in development here:
Queensland snake catcher Luke Huntley informed Yahoo News Australia that it’s unusual to see such cannibalism. “In my career, I have actually had plenty of calls where individuals state, ‘Hey, a red stubborn belly is eating this brown snake’, or ‘I’ve got a brown snake eating a red belly’, however I have actually never ever had a yellow-faced whip snake eating another yellow-faced whip snake,” he said.
A hiker in Australia discovered an uncommon sight– snake cannibalism in progress. See what occurs when 2 snakes fight it out.