Watch The Sighting Here:
This video was sent to Latest Sightings by Catherine. She and her companion witnessed the incident on the H7 near Satara in Kruger National Park, South Africa.
Got Something
In the opening scene of Catherine’s video, we see a large raptor, identified as a brown snake eagle. There are 13 species of snake eagles worldwide, all of which feed mainly on snakes.
Looking down, it draws our attention to a snake on the ground at its feet.
Catherine’s companion noted that the eagle had released the snake’s head and was now gripping it by the tail.
Snake Identified
As the eagle adjusted its grip, the snake moved, revealing itself to be a cobra.
Its flared hood is an indication that it belonged to the venomous family, later identified as a snouted cobra (Naja annulifera).
Sometimes called banded Egyptian cobras, snouted cobras are large snakes, reaching a maximum length of 2.5 metres (8.2 ft).
In the above image, a small bleeding puncture wound is visible on the side of its mouth. This is presumably from when the eagle initially grabbed the cobra by its head.
Offensive Defence
Cobras flare their hoods to warn off threats, while seeking to avoid physical conflict. However, as a specialist snake-eater, the eagle remained undeterred.
Subsequently, as the eagle pecked at the snake’s tail, the cobra escalated its self-defence strategy by striking.
Sensing the risk of a bite, the eagle sprang back instinctively. Snake eagles are not immune to venom, they instead rely on their heavily-scaled legs to avoid bites.
Heads And Tails
When hunting venomous snakes, snake eagles ideally seize their victim by the head and quickly incapacitate them.
However, in this instance, once it released the head, it tried to subdue its prey in other ways. Steering clear of its fangs, the raptor snatched the cobra by the tail.
Consequently, the cobra again lunged at its tormentor, forcing the eagle to let go.
With that, the two began a series of moves and counterattacks. As the eagle circled looking for an opening, the snake followed its progress, ready to strike at any moment.
Note how the snake is being evasive towards the eagle. All it wanted was to be left in peace. However, each time the eagle went for it, it would strike defensively in response.
And after each strike, it would rear backwards, signalling that it did not want this situation in the first place.
Obviously, due to its much smaller size, the cobra did not regard the eagle as a potential meal. That said, its neurotoxic venom could easily kill the eagle.
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Eagle Eye And Bye-Bye
After numerous attempts to subdue the cobra, each time thwarted by the snake’s defensive aggression, the eagle was stumped. For a few moments, it simply stood there, giving its uncooperative victim the side-eye.
Then, resigned to the fact that there was no way around the snake’s defences, it gave up and flew away.
Peace-Loving Snakes
This sighting provides a useful insight into how even venomous snakes would rather avoid confrontation. And this applies to humans, too.
Outside of when they are hunting, snakes will only bite in self-defence and do not actively slither around looking for things to bite. For snakes, this would be a risky waste of energy with no rewards.
Therefore, should you see or even surprise a snake, do everything you can to stay still and calm. Given a little time, the snake will calm down and move away from you at the first opportunity.