King Cobra vs Giant Python: Photo Shows Fatal Outcome Of Lethal Battle

In a rare incident, a king cobra and a giant python engaged in a lethal battle that resulted in no survivor. A dramatic photo shared on social media Friday shows the two predators coiled together.

King cobra, the world's longest venomous snake, was seen in the photo lying strangled while the python was also dead. According to the National Geographic, the python was bitten behind its head by the cobra and died due to the snake’s deadly venom. The python, which is the longest snake in the world, attempted to defend itself by squeezing its attacker and succeeded in killing it.

The lethal battle, clearly, had no winner.

“It’s crazy, but it’s something I could easily see happening…it’s a dangerous world out there, to eat other big snakes and things that could kill you,” Coleman Sheehy of the Florida Museum of Natural History, said. Sheehy said that the deadly clash likely occurred somewhere in Southeast Asia, where the two snake species can be found.

The photo quickly went viral on social media, with thousands of likes and shares.

King cobras are the longest venomous snakes in the world, with some growing up to 18 feet. They specialize in eating other snakes and can kill by injecting a venomous cocktail that quickly shuts down nervous systems and paralyzes their prey.

“They can pretty much tackle most snakes they come across,” Sheehy told the National Geographic.

Pythons, on the other hand, are the longest snakes in the world, with some growing over 30 feet long. They normally eat small animals and mammals but don't feast on other snakes.

“If there was a predatory event here, it was king cobra to python,” Frank Burbrink of the American Museum of Natural History said. “And it didn’t work out for either of them.”

“We know cobras will eat other snakes, but you never know if people are doing goofy stuff to set things up,” Burbrink said whether the fight resulted from a natural encounter or not. “People keep king cobras, and—hey let’s see what happens when you put these guys in a little ditch. You can see there’s a berm on both sides [in the photo] and they might’ve gone at it, but it could have happened in the wild as well. I wish I were there to have seen it.”

Sheehy said that despite king cobra's deadly venom, the python's enormous size and power were too much to overcome.

“It would kill the python pretty quickly,” Sheehy said. “Probably within 30 minutes, they could both be dead.”