Скачать или смотреть Snake VS Snake- Black Racer eating a venomous cottonmouth at Snake Road!

Dave and Jeremy witness an incredible struggle for survival when a black racer stalks a young cottonmouth. Even though the viper is venomous, it is no match for the large racer.

While hiking at snake Road, in the Shawnee national forest in Southern Illinois, we observed a North American Racer, sometimes referred to as the eastern racer or black racer, actively hunting a juvenile cottonmouth. Racers are alert and nervous snakes, yet this one was seemingly unfazed by our presence. We grabbed the video camera and began recording the events as they unfolded.

Racers have a varied diet and will prey on lizards, mice, birds and even venomous snakes hunting them down with their speed and keen eyesight.

Although their scientific name is “Coluber constrictor," they don’t use constriction as a way of subduing prey. Instead they pin their prey to the ground using their powerful jaws and proceed to swallow it alive. This was the first time we had ever seen one kill and eat a venomous snake.

King snakes are better known for being venomous snake eaters and regularly prey on rattlesnakes, copperheads and cottonmouths. They are immune to snake venom, allowing them to kill and eat snakes that most predators would avoid. The effect that snake venom has on racers has been poorly studied but it was quite obvious to us that they too must have some degree of immunity.

We witnessed the baby cottonmouth, or water moccasin sink its fangs into the body and head of the racer with no effect whatsoever. The racer then overpowered, killed and swallowed the cottonmouth.

We spoke with a local biologist from the DNR and he confirmed that in his research he observed racer snakes killing and consuming other venomous snakes, including small timber rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus). Clearly, more studies need to be done on these fascinating snakes to accurately access whether the venom has any effect on them at all.