The hunter became the hunted when a python attempted to snack on a mongoose, only to fall victim to the little carnivore’s large family.
At 10-13 feet in length with powerful bodies and crushing jaws, the African rock python has very few worries when it comes to the food chain. If they eat too large a meal, they might find themselves at the mercy of a pack of hyenas or wild dogs. For the most part, however, they slither through the grasslands and savanna without worry.
Even for apex predators, though, it’s important to choose meals carefully. If not, they might find themselves covered in porcupine quills or the victim of a 15 on 1 beatdown. One python recently found itself in the latter scenario when it attempted to squeeze the life out of a mongoose.
Now, this python clearly had a bit of time with the mongoose. It was able to wrap itself around the smaller animal twice before the pack descended. Once it did, however, the python had little hope of success.
“The video isn’t the greatest (it was shot from the kitchen window of this man’s house),” Nature is Metal wrote in the caption. “But you can clearly see that the python is trying to constrict one of them while the rest relentlessly attack the snake’s body.”
At first, the snake attempts to hang on to its prey while enduring the pack’s attack. Eventually, though, it had no choice but to relinquish its hold on the mongoose to even have a chance at survival.
Mongoose Are Notorious for Their Vicious Attacks on Pythons and Other Snakes
The python should’ve chosen an easier meal, but it may not live to regret its decision. As the footage shows, even after the mongoose escapes the python’s deadly clutches, its family continues the attack, tearing away piece after piece of the snake’s skin.
Though the video doesn’t specify, the band of mongooses depicted appears to be banded mongooses, small, catlike carnivores native to Africa.
The snake really should have known better than to go after one of these vicious little carnivores. Mongooses are not only highly social, traveling in packs of 10-20 individuals, but also known for their ability to kill snakes, even those as large as pythons.
They’re only 12-18 inches in length on average, but their skills in collaboration are impeccable. Mongooses forage for food alone, which explains how the python caught one on its own. However, they work together in just about every other aspect of life, including defending the pack from predators and snake hunting.
When the python captured the mongoose, the snake’s intended prey likely emitted a series of calls to communicate the danger to its nearby family members. The family then came running, using a technique known as “mobbing” to bring down the much larger predator.
