{"id":35859,"date":"2024-01-29T13:02:55","date_gmt":"2024-01-29T12:02:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/c00c71ae-78b6-4280-9063-ef177953cc67"},"modified":"2024-01-29T14:36:52","modified_gmt":"2024-01-29T13:36:52","slug":"why-do-snakes-eat-each-other","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/why-do-snakes-eat-each-other\/","title":{"rendered":"Why do snakes eat each other?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do snakes eat other snakes? Can they be cannibalistic? Stuart Blackman investigates <\/p>

By Stuart Blackman\n <\/p>

Published: Monday, 29 January 2024 at 12:02 PM<\/p>

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Snakes are a far more diverse group than they might appear, to human eyes at least. The 4,000 or so snake species feed variously on mammals, birds, eggs, lizards, fish, snails, worms and insects.<\/a><\/p>

Do snakes eat each other?<\/h2>

Many, including Europe\u2019s smooth snake<\/a>, will happily eat other snakes, given the opportunity. And some \u2013 the kingsnakes of North America, for example, or Asia\u2019s king cobra \u2013 are full-blown ophiophage specialising in serpentine prey.<\/p>

But this couldn\u2019t really be called cannibalism, in the same way that a lion<\/a> eating a fellow mammal couldn\u2019t. True cannibalism \u2013 killing and eating a member of one\u2019s own species \u2013 is rather rare throughout the animal kingdom. Some snakes, though, do meet this standard, if only occasionally.<\/p>

Are some snakes cannibalistic?<\/h2>

An internet search will yield videos of black-headed pythons, copperheads and small-eyed snakes all making a meal of one of their own. Male Cape cobras have been documented eating rivals, and male king cobras eating females, while in the south of France, male Montpellier snakes eat the females outside of the mating season. <\/p>

There are also intriguing cases of captive snakes swallowing their own tails, ouroboros-style, presumably in mistake for prey, which could be regarded as an extreme form of cannibalism. However, it\u2019s not clear whether this occurs in nature.<\/p>