At Liwonde National Park in southern Malawi we heard something screaming. When we traced it we found this. Neither animal seemed prepared to give in, and I never learned the outcome. How the snake (I was told it was a variegated bush snake) would manage to swallow the frog, I have no idea, but if it did manage it, it's probably still digesting it, almost four years later (just kidding, but you'll get the idea).
Later I heard another frog screaming nearby. Must have been a bad day for frogs.
[1 June 2007, Canon 20D, 300 mm f4 L , ISO 400, 1/100 at f5.0]
All content © 2011 Pete McGregor
Oh, what an amazing picture of a life and death struggle.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know frogs could scream until I witnessed one being gulped down by a grass snake.
Can snakes scream?
Oh, my dear! What a dramatic photos...what a dramactic world, says this girl who buys everything she eats in the supermarked! A wonderful shot of life and deaths...and it reminds me that we never know what the day will bring; things can happen in a split second..
ReplyDeleteMany years ago, before I ever carried a camera, I walked down to the river on a piece of land I had just bought. There I saw a snake with a frog in its mouth. I was young then and unaccustomed to witnessing the harsh realities of the world. So, I let out a scream that literally made that snake drop the frog and flee. I haven't thought of that moment in years. This stunningly dramatic photo reminded me.
ReplyDeleteRR, as far as I know, snakes only hiss; however, I'm not an expert on snakes. I just like them :^)
ReplyDeleteAputsiaq, thanks, and you touch on an important point — too many of us are now too far removed from the "real" world. How many of us, particularly in western countries have even seen a cow being milked? That kind of distance from the biological world surely can't be good.
Robin, I wonder what the snake thought? Or the frog? (Kidding). More importantly, I wonder what other people seeing that encounter would think. Would those who've seen these kinds of things many times on documentaries be desensitised, or, to put it more kindly, would they be able to view it more objectively?
Actually, given the sensationalistic presentation of many of those "documentaries", I doubt they'd do much to foster objectivity.
Life in the food chain ... lest we forget ... You captured the tension well!
ReplyDeleteThanks Barbara!
ReplyDelete