A Darwin park ranger received an incredible shock upon seeing a 1.5-metre carpet python devouring a black flying fox whole.
Louise Kean, senior district ranger at Howard Springs Nature Park, spotted the astonishing scene on her property last week while taking an evening stroll.
The dramatic spectacle lasted over six hours, with the python using its remarkable strength to coil around, constrict and devour its prey.
‘I was out for a stroll when I noticed some flies gathering around a spot in the bushes at about 5.30pm,' she said.
'When I spotted some movement on the floor I was very intrigued. It was the first time I had seen a snake feeding in its natural environment’.
After racing back to her house and returning to the scene with a camera, she photographed more than six hours of the dramatic feeding production, which wrapped up at about midnight.
‘It was amazing watching things in unfold in person. The python was using all of its strength to wring the flying fox out like a towel, manoeuvring it into a snake-sized snack.’
Ms Kean said the flying fox was about the size of an average house cat, and would have been snatched from out of a tree.
'That's no small meal, but similar breeds such as the olive python have been known to devour wallabies whole,' she said.
She said the serpent uses its entire body throughout the feeding process.
‘They pulse the meal inside and articulate their jaws to fit the meal in. It really is astonishing to see nature at work.’
(dailymail.co.uk)
ANN.Az
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