Photo Contribution and Enquiry by Alan Cook with Comments by Johan Marais
Alan Cook: "I'd like to share a series of pictures all taken on 6th July 2008 at Marloth Park, Mpumalanga. On Seekooi Road
The pictures were taken by my son Gavin Cook (14 yrs) while walking with his friend Terrel Devadasan (or T) when they saw a snake swallowing a large lizard. When the boys arrived it had bitten the lizard, and was gripping it, before backing into the grass and swallowing it. I found your internet page while looking for confirmation of the type of snake. Is it a young black mamba? Length seemed to be about 1.2 or 1.5 m."
Johan Marais: "An interesting observation of a 1.2 m Mozambique Spitting Cobra – Naja mossambica eating a Plated or Rough-scaled lizard, most probably Gerrhosaurus major. These lizards, as the common name indicates, have very rough scales which makes it difficult for most snakes to eat them. The Mozambique Spitting Cobra, however, is a ferocious feeder with a potent venom and is more than capable of eating Gerrhosaurus. There are not a many records of this lizard being preyed upon by snakes, especially adult lizards. A nice observation!"
Johan Marais: "I have given this more thought and was wondering whether the lizard was not perhaps killed by a vehicle and scavenged by the snake. The lizard has a broken tail which shouldn’t happen if a snake grabs it and, as I have already said, has very rough scales on the body to protect it. It is also a very fast-moving lizard and Spitting Cobras quite slow. Any thoughts on this?"
Alan Cook: "Thanks for your response. I have pasted a still from the video the boys took (Picture #7) and it shows the tail lying among several tyre tracks and the rear end of the tail does look to me like it has been run over. So I think you are spot on about it having been run over and killed. There was not many cars around in Marloth park at the weekend, so the unlucky lizard ran out across the road at just the wrong time."
Click on Thumb Nails below!
| Total images: 7 | © Johan Marais | Help |
