Snake attack!

Earlier today, as I sat in the kitchen hut helping Duncan sort though bark samples, I was distracted from this work by the sound of my name being excitedly called from outside. I rushed to where Edson, the source of this calling, was standing to see what the fuss was about and to my delight found a scene not unlike one you might see in the BBC wildlife documentaries I so love.

A spotted bush snake had just struck a hapless gecko and was in the process of devouring it with incredible speed. Shoulders, belly and soon legs and tail disappeared down the snake’s throat as the expanded jaws swallowed the lizard whole – a process enable be the specialised articulation of the jaw bones with the skull, or cranial kinesis, that all snakes possess.

I’m afraid to say that the gecko’s demised was a particularly unpleasant one – it slowly suffocated as it was forced down its attacker’s throat and could still be seen twitching for a short while within the snake’s belly!

While the scene was slightly macabre, and I felt a stab of pity for the poor gecko, it was a fascinating example of “nature red in tooth and claw”, and an event that I am glad to have been a spectator of.

Written on Saturday 14^th August