Hawk vs. snake? Not sure how the fight started, but we know how it ended in Tennessee
It was a merciless fight, if the picture is any indication.
A gray rat snake and a young red-tailed hawk were tangling, and a photo shared by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency shows the bird’s head bent to its tail and its eyes wide open.
A man in central Tennessee shared the startling photo with wildlife officials.
So who won this epic fight?
“The homeowner got a stick and separated them,” wildlife officials said in a Facebook post. “Both animals carried on their merry way. Wow!”
Snake-vs.-hawk battles have been caught on camera before.
In March, a group of seventh-grade students came across what they thought was a dead snake and a dead hawk in Texas.
“After close inspection, both animals were still alive. One let go of the other (not sure which one let go first!), and the hawk flew off and the snake slithered away,” Texas Parks and Wildlife said on Facebook.
In Tennessee, the snake and the hawk probably got lucky.
Red-tailed hawks are “keen-eyed and efficient hunters” of mice, squirrels, reptiles and more, according to National Geographic.
But gray rat snakes, which can grow to 6 feet long, constrict their prey — including birds, Tennessee wildlife officials say.
This story was originally published October 31, 2019 at 11:28 AM.
