Cape Town - We've seen some incredible wildlife videos from across South Africa this year. And just as we thought we've seen it all, nature hits us in the gut with another shocking spectacle.
The incredible footage, which was captured and published on Latest Sightings, shows a python trying to swallow a duiker, when the horns of the duiker stab and pierce through the snake's head!
The man behind the camera, Christo Brunette, is a regular visitor to game reserves throughout Southern Africa. He says this was the first time he had encountered something like this.
He told Latest Sightings he first spotted the duiker lying down on its side outside his chalet. Curious about the weird behaviour, we went closer to investigate, only to find the animal strangled in the grip of the python. It looked as if the snake was in the process of swallowing it.
But when the human activity around the sighting increases, it seems as if the python retreats from it’s meal, and the horns of the duiker pierced through his head.
Check it out: Kruger python bites off more than it can chew... literally!
“I was overwhelmed by this and couldn’t believe that I came across this sight! It was a very rare opportunity to film," Christo says.
Luckily, the python could wiggle and jiggle about and set itself free.
This is not the first time we're completely in awe of a python trying to swallow down a meal more than double its body size. Last year, an African Rock Python managed to make a meal of a whole duiker at Zwahili private game lodge east of Modimolle, at the foot of the Waterberg in the Bushveld region of the Limpopo Province.
While this python's plan went according to plan, another almost four-metre-long python died after eating a large porcupine in the Lake Eland nature reserve in southern KwaZulu-Natal last year.
Check it out: PICS: Python dies after prickly meal
(Photo: Lake Eland Nature Reserve)
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