Photos of a giant snake swallowing a crocodile have gone viral. The snake attacked the crocodile and the two battled for several hours before the snake overpowered the mighty croc and began to swallow it whole. A photographer enjoying lunch at Lake Moondarra, near Mount Isa in Australia, was able to snap a few photos of the battle.
While a snake eating a crocodile is a pretty impressive sight, and photos of such a battles are rare, it is not uncommon for snakes to take down and devour large animals. Large snakes are extremely strong and capable of taking down animals that weigh several hundred pounds. Once the animal is down, snakes like anacondas will squeeze and suffocate them before swallowing them whole.
Most large snakes like Anacondas try to avoid populated areas and do most of their hunting in the rainforest or in rivers. Every now and then, one will wander out of the mist to find new hunting grounds. If these hunting grounds happen to be in a location where domestic pets are found, the snake may be lucky enough to find itself a snack. There are many reports of snakes eating household pets such as cats, birds, rabbits, and as this picture shows, dogs.
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In many parts of the world, farmers are forced to raise their animals and livestock near predators. While wolves and lions are obvious threats to farm animals, this photo shows that anacondas can be just as fierce. A horse is the unlucky victim of this hungry, big snake.
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While most snakes are happy to hunt easy prey like fish, birds, and small mammals, some snakes just can’t resist getting their jaws around something larger. Nyalas are deer-like animals that live in Africa. Nyalas and anacondas often cross paths, but usually neither one pays the other any mind. In this photo, an anaconda gets the better of a nyala, and manages to not only kill it, but swallow its entire body as well.
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Snakes are able to open their mouths extremely wide and once they have swallowed a large meal, they can go several days and even weeks without eating again. The snakes in these photos clearly had large appetites, and in this case, did not bite off more than they could chew.
