Are there any recorded instances of a “python versus lion, tiger, or leopard” altercation? How about anaconda versus jaguar? If so, what was the outcome?
I sincerely hope you don’t mind me adding my query into your thread, but it seemed more sensible than having the second thread I was about to write, about whether or not this apparently-respectable page is serious in saying that:
Hedgehogs eat slugs, not two-foot snakes, don’t they?
That page is user-editable, like Wikipedia. Presumably someone genuinely knowledgeable about hedgehogs wrote the bulk of it (including the “diet” listing which lists only small creepy-crawlies), and then some yahoo came along and added the adder thing as a prank. Even if the hedgehog were immune to adder venom, repeated bites from the snake would still do a fair bit of damage to a creature that small (certainly enough that the hedgie wouldn’t deliberately seek out snakes), and the hedgehog doesn’t really have adequate natural weaponry to kill a snake, which could probably flee faster even if it did.
I ‘know’ jaguar remains have been found in anacondas, but I have no cite.
An anaconda vs. black jag grudge match long ago made the rounds of the nature shows. The cat (finally) won, but I don’t think the snake was one of those “big around as an oil drum” monsters.
Jaguars aren’t that big, as far as big cats go.
My 9 foot boa constrictor could definitely kill if not eat my average sized house cat. If the cat saw it coming he could probably break free of the snakes jaws, I’ve seen rats do it in the past, but if the snake got a coil or two looped around the cat ( which happens pretty darn quickly) it would be all but over. The exception would be if the cat still had enough movement of it’s head to get it’s jaws on the snake’s head or spine near the head. A twenty five or thirty foot anaconda or reticulated python would have a similar advantage over a jaguar, leopard or cougar. I doubt even the largest snake would be able to take a full grown lion or tiger though.
The “Anaconda locked in mortal combat with jaguar” picture was a stock favorite in every book on snakes I owned as a child. Potentially rivaling “Sperm whale locked in mortal combat with giant squid” as seen in books on the deep sea.
Always drawn though, mind you. Never a photograph.
I have footage of a reticulated python killing a fully grown leopard, from a 1930’s documentary on zoo collection. No camera trickery: the snake definitely kills the cat. Amazing footage.
I’ve read of snakes killing smaller cats but they tend to avoid things like Lions and Tigers who can, and do, kill snakes.
Most people fail to realize animals aren’t dumb they only go after what is easy unless they are extremely hungry. There are cases of Jags and Anacondas where the outcome was either the Jag or the Snake depending on the circumstance.
My favorite footage is of a pack of lions killing a hippo. Then the other hippos see it come out of the water and drive off the lions. Then the hyenas see it and attack the pack of hippos driving them to the water. Then the crocs come out of the water and drive off the hyenas and then the lions come back and drive the crocs off, thus regaining the hippo they killed in the first place.
Animals have to be in their element. Crocs are scared of Hippos, Hippos are scared of Lions and Lions fear Crocs. But only in their element. A croc on land is much less dangerous than in the water. It is still deadly but the croc really shines in the water or on the shoreline.
Same goes for the hippo. A pack of lions may attack a hippo on land but would never do it in the water as water isn’t a lion thing.
As the saying goes “A caged rat is going to fight.”
Or as Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver said when asked why do frogs run away when attacked "No, the frogs aren’s scardy cats they just don’t dig fighting. "
To say the least. :dubious: I’ve been bitten by my hedgehog before, and they really don’t do much other than just break skin, and that’s only if you yank your bit of flesh right out of its jaws. Little peg toothed animals, the lot of them.
Jesus, people, what kind of hedgehogs did you grow up around? The kind I caught as a kid could inflict some serious damage. I mean they weren’t big but it’s like a spiny little ferret, and don’t tell me ferrets aren’t dangerous. :dubious:
I grew up with “hedgehogs eat snakes” as common knowledge. The method described above is how a hedgehog will defend itself against anything, but if you aggravate it enough it will bite before rolling up. I’ve been bitten, when they bite hard it will pierce the skin and it can get infected (perhaps something in their saliva, not sure). Somehow I don’t have a single doubt in my mind that hedgehogs eat snakes, sometimes perhaps even as a major part of their diet.
I doubt they are ‘immune to the venom’ though. More likely it can curl up before the snake can strike. Every cite I’ve checked so far includes “snakes” as part of a hedgehog diet, but none of them have been all that reputable.
Err I meant to say “they do more than pierce skin”. I’ve been bitten by hedgehogs and I’ve been bitten by really pissed off cats. I’d say about the same type of experience. Profuse bleeding and pain.