Shocking images are circulating on social media in which a Python snake catches a possum over your head until you accidentally drop it on the floor.
And strangely, one snake expert believes the snake probably left the marsupial dead on the ground (and didn’t pick it up) because its process was “interrupted” by the accidental fall.
1 of 1 Video Shows Python Pulling a Possum by the Neck, But What Comes Next is More Disturbing; Watch Photo: Reproduction/Twitter The video shows a python pulling a possum by the neck, but what comes next is more disturbing; Clock Photo: Reproduction/Twitter
The snake was seen and filmed hanging from the roof of a balcony in a city in Australia. When the snake tried to pull the possum onto the roof by wrapping it around its body, it lost control and the animal fell.
Queensland snake expert Daniel Busstra explains the python tried to drag the possum up to the rafters but accidentally dropped it. “The possum probably would have been sleeping in the rafters and the python would have taken advantage of that,” Dan told news.com.au. “The python would have picked up the scent, climbed into the rafters, attacked, curled up and strangled itself, and then lost its balance while choking,” he explained.
Snakes that size have between 90 and 100 teeth and would normally have no problem holding on to a skunk that size, Dan added. “When they bite and the bite is good, they usually hold on,” he said.
The video showed that the python tried to pull the possum back but dropped it. “It was definitely trying to drag it back into the rafters to catch it again,” he said, revealing it was unlikely the snake was chasing the possum after the fall. Regard:
Coastal pythons regularly feed on opossums, he said, describing the opossum in the video as “average” compared to the giant specimens he has encountered.
Dan added that a python of that size would normally have no problem holding on to a possum, but it appeared the snake was trying too hard and was only holding onto the beam by the “tail tip.”
It really took a lot of effort to get it back. “If it had had a good grip or wrapped around the beams in the middle of its body, it would have made it,” he said. He explained that pythons generally do not eat an animal they have killed after the process has been stopped, leading him to believe that the snake had probably left the skunk on the ground.
Coastal pythons live on the Queensland coast, Dan said, and generally do not cause much disruption to humans. He added that while the video may be disturbing to some, it shows a natural part of a “healthy ecosystem.”