A snake rescuer in eastern India struggled to control two cobras recently that were locked in a fierce battle.
Snake rescuer struggles to separate two cobras locked in battle
A snake rescuer in eastern India struggled to control two cobras recently that were locked in a fierce battle.
Expert rescuer Sujit Kumar Mohanty was called to a home in Sunabeda in Odisha state on Sunday (May 16) after a local reported seeing a snake.
He located a cobra but when he lifted its tail was surprised to discover that it was in the process of swallowing one of its own.
When Mohanty set the snakes down in the backyard of the property, the larger reptile released the smaller one and they began fighting.
It took Mohanty 10 minutes to prise them apart and place them in separate bags.
Subhendu Mallik, General Secretary of Snake Helpline, asked Mohanty to keep the two cobras under observation overnight to see the effect of their venom on each other.
“Cobras are known cannibals but scientists are still debating if they are immune to their own venom.
As producing venom is a very costly metabolic process, we are also not sure if these snakes injected each other with their poison," said Mallik.
The two cobras were found to be alive on May 17 and were released successfully into the wild.