Graeme Mitchley, a teacher from the suburbs of Johannesburg, filmed an eagle tearing apart a venomous snake in Kruger National Park.
The recorded video shows the eagle grabbing the venomous snake. The snake could not resist, lying flat on the ground. However, eagles do not kill their prey immediately. It was confident and proud, holding onto the snake with its extremely sharp and sturdy talons.
Then the eagle lowered its head and used its sharp beak to gut the snake. After e ating all the organs, it tore through the snake’s body mercilessly one by one and flew away with a non-venomous half-tail.
Venom glands are concentrated in the head of the snake. The other half of the snake’s body was thrown on the road. When Mitchley returned the next day, he found no trace of the snake and speculated that some scavenger had cleaned up the excess.
“Although many people both hate and fear snakes, it was a really painful and lengthy death,” he said.
Snake-eating eagles are mainly found in the central part of Kruger, often feeding on snakes, mambas, boomslangs and grass snakes. They also eat geckos and other small mammals.
