Cobra's stomach punctured after swallowing snake

South Africa Driver shocked to find cobra carcass on road with stomach wound revealing part of its meal of puff adder.

A cobra has a punctured stomach after swallowing a puff adder. Photo: Marietjie Hattingh

"I was driving on a farm road. This road is rarely used and has not been used for a long time. While driving, I noticed something on the road and did not pay much attention. But when I got closer, I realized it was a snake, a cobra to be exact," Latest Sightings quoted Marietjie Hattingh, a woman in South Africa, as saying on May 21.

Upon closer inspection, Hattingh noticed that the cobra was dead and had a hole in its stomach, revealing part of its meal: a large puff adder snake. "I was surprised to see a snake swallowing another snake of such size," she shared.

Snakes are agile, but they cannot avoid all dangers on the road. They often die from collisions with vehicles when crossing the road in search of prey or new habitat. But this was not the case with the cobra that Hattingh encountered.

“The strangest thing is how did both snakes die? We will never know exactly what happened,” she said. The most likely possibility is that a bird attacked the cobra and won, but was unable to carry the animal away or eat it on the spot because something was in the way.

Cobras are a group of venomous snakes in the family Elapidae distributed from southern Africa to South Asia and the islands of Southeast Asia. Most cobras have the ability to inflate their necks when in danger.

Their venom, which typically contains neurotoxins, helps to subdue prey such as small mammals, birds, lizards, and snakes, including the puff adder ( Bitis arietans ), a venomous snake in the family Vipers. Scientific observations reveal that they actively hunt other snakes, becoming predators within the snake kingdom itself. Their specialized fangs and powerful jaws allow them to subdue and consume their prey.

Thu Thao (According to Latest Sightings )

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