Posted on 04/19/2014 4:36:24 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Grisly fight for freedom
The picture as published in 'Ecologica Montenegrina' showing the centipede bursting out of the snake's stomach. (Pic courtesy: Ecologica Montenegrina) The picture is not for those with weak stomachs and the report itself is as creepy as its protagonist.
However, if you are looking at the picture, then you may well be looking at the most famous centipede known to man.
Also famous now is the Ecologica Montenegrina a hithertho Montenegro college journal of science that published the find.
A viper is believed to have swallowed centipede alive. The centipede then fought back – and the paper published by Ljiljana Tomovic, a Serbian herpetologist, and called ‘Two fangs good, a hundred legs better’ – suggests the centipede ate its way out of the viper’s body.
Both creatures were found dead by a group of researchers who stumbled upon the grisly scene during a field study in Macedonia last year.
After a post-mortem, the scientists think it is possible that the centipede quite literally ate the snake from inside out.
It is not the first time that a snake has underestimated its prey.
In 2005, a four-metre Burmese python was found dead after attempting to digest a two-metre-long American alligator.
Centipedes creep me out more than spiders.
Have to hand it to the centipede though.
Centapeeds and spiders give me the creeps! To many legs, and a body that is just filled with pus. No thanks!
I’ve seen women do this to some pretty strong men...
In the summer we have an off and on problem with house centipedes. I am absolutely terrified of the things. When it gets warm, I start sticking my head into rooms before I enter, scanning the upper walls near the ceiling.
Vendome!!! laughing my head off.....
; = )
I never thought I would feel bad or sorry for a snake.
Ugly thing to watch...
There was some nature special about centipedes recently - apparently the little monsters can prey on scorpions, tarantulas, small birds and rodents. Eating a small viper from the inside out doesn’t seem like a stretch for these vicious little bastards - I just hope they don’t start wondering what people taste like.
That’s all I’m gonna say about that.
Luckily the bigger Hawaiian ones cannot climb much of anything that I have seen so far. Maybe when they get too big?
The ones I have go anywhere they want to go. This one is about 3” overall.
They don’t bother me, I don’t bother them. Out here in the woods critters are just a fact of life.
It’s a centipede eats viper world.
“What’s eating you today?”
“What’s bugging you?
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