Mumbai-based naturalists have documented a rare instance of ophiophagy (snake-eating behaviour) at Maharashtra Nature Park, where a rat snake was observed consuming a juvenile Indian rock python. Notably, the rat snake completely engulfed the python alive.

A manuscript detailing this natural history behaviour, titled “Oriental Rat Snake Ptyas mucosa (Linnaeus 1758) Feeding on an Indian Rock Python Python molurus (Linnaeus 1758) from Mumbai, Maharashtra, India,” has been accepted for publication in the journal Hamadryad. The note’s authors are Prashant Krishna Gokarankar, Shubham Murlidhar Hadkar, and Pranav Joshi. According to the research note, ophiophagy provides snakes with higher energy due to the greater mass of snake prey relative to its cross-sectional size compared to other prey. Some snake species are known to consume other long (snakes), or even longer, than themselves.