Python Tries to Eat an Antelope Before Horns Pierce the Snakes Head

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Animals work hard for their food. They can’t simply pop on down to the local grocery store or farmers market and pick out want they want to it. Every day, they have to hunt for their food, stalk it, and kill it to survive. 

Sometimes animals can track their food for a whole day before they can get a successful kill. No matter if it takes hours or days, once an animal has completed their kill, they are rightly exhausted and ready to eat.

Rarely will we ever see an animal hunt and kill an animal and then leave their food and walk away. However, this large python will end up leaving his kill and slithering off. 

The video posted below takes place in the Kruger National Park located in South Africa. Some tourists have spotted a long python that has wrapped itself around a duiker. A duiker is an African antelope. Imagining they would want this large python to swallow his meal, they stop to watch these events unfold. 

Only, as they draw closer, they notice this python isn’t trying to swallow this antelope; rather, he is trying to free himself! The python, when trying to swallow the head of the antelope, didn’t realize the danger of these antelope’s horns. Once he swallowed the head, the horns pierced right through the head of the snake. 

Writhing in pain, we see the python struggling to get out of this mess he created. Once he can pull his head out, he unwraps his body and slithers away. Likely, this snake will not survive. 

How Large Can a Python Open its Mouth?

It is no surprise that snake swallows their prey and then digest the food in their stomachs. However, when we look at the size of pythons, and their ability to swallow large animals, such as an antelope, it begs the question, “How large can a python open its mouth?”

The Scientific American comically states that they can “open their mouths very wide.” And the reason for this rather vague answer is that it depends on the python and its species. 

The Paradise Wildlife Park shares that the “Reticulated Python is one of the few snakes that can open its mouth to 180 degrees and sometimes even more!”

So, it is no surprise when watching this video below that this large python was able to swallow this antelope whole. There was only one issue for this python, he forgot about the horns, which ultimately was his demise.

Is This Normal Behavior?

Talk about biting off a piece bigger than you can chew! Because pythons have such a stretchable maw, it is normal for them to be found eating animals much larger than one would imagine. This can be seen in the video. Their bodies have evolved to be up to the task. However, we surmise that it is pretty rare for a python to foolishly damage itself while eating to this extent. The snake miscalculating the horns of the duiker to the extreme of mortally piercing itself is a uncommon sight in deed!