Rare Encounter: Venomous Coral Snakes Engage in Epic Tug-of-War Over Prey in Western Colombia

In a groundbreaking discovery, never-before-seen footage captures a unique battle between two venomous coral snakes vying for a wormlike caecilian in the jungles of western Colombia.
This unprecedented tug-of-war, documented in a study published in the journal Herpetozoa on March 22, marks the first recorded instance of kleptoparasites within the Elapidae family of venomous snakes in their natural habitat.
Lead author Henrik Bringsøe, a renowned herpetologist, expressed astonishment at the spectacle, highlighting its rarity and uniqueness. The encounter unfolded during a nocturnal expedition by herpetologists in search of amphibians and reptiles in the rainforest.
The mesmerizing footage captures the coral snakes employing a spinning maneuver while biting the caecilian, possibly to untangle it as it struggles. Both snakes utilized chemoreception to detect the same prey, relying on their keen sense of taste and smell.
Remarkably, the caecilian displayed apparent resistance to the neurotoxic venom of the coral snakes, enduring multiple bites without evident harm, as indicated by previous research.
The intense showdown lasted 17 minutes before one snake emerged victorious, carrying off the prized caecilian. Bringsøe emphasized the importance of minimizing disturbance to preserve the integrity of the observation.
While kleptoparasites is well-documented in various animal species, including birds, instances among snakes in the wild remain rare and largely unexplored due to the secretive nature of these reptiles.
Bringsøe underscores the challenges of studying snake behavior in their natural habitat, emphasizing the need for extensive time and effort to unravel their hidden lives.

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