A new image coming out of Australia is causing fright all over the world. This is a carnivorous tree frog. And in the picture you can see the snake it is devouring sliding into the frog’s stomach. The image was shared on Reddit where it quickly went viral. As you can see, it is a shocking depiction of nature caught in the act of a predator versus prey relationship. But instead of the frog getting eaten by the snake, it is the one doing the eating. This has left some viewers stunned and saying “only in Australia.”
The photo was posted to Reddit with the caption “One Last Scream Into the Abysssss.” You can see directly into the snake’s mouth as it swallows the snake down into its gullet.
In the picture the snake is just peeping out of the frog’s mouth trying to get one last look at the earth it has known as home for its short life.
Although the image is a few years old, it has become popular again because of the clever post to Reddit. People have been fascinated over it before because the snake is peeping out of the frog’s wide open mouth.
National Geographic Explorer and conservation biologist Jodi Rowley was able to identify the species of frog as the Australian green tree frog or the Litoria caerulea, National Geographic reported. This green tree frog is found all over Australia and New Guinea. The males just grow to be about three inches long, while the stronger, more robust females measure four inches from top to tail.
While this frog certainly is carnivorous, it usually feasts on insects and bugs. But it does go for bigger prey like other frogs or small mice when it is especially hungry. In this instance, it managed to catch a snake.
“It really has more to do with prey being smaller than the mouth size and moving across the frog’s field of view,” said conservation biologist Karen Lips from the University of Maryland.
If this Australian green tree frog can catch its prey, it will eat it. Apparently it is not very discriminating.
As snakes do, reptiles, amphibians and many fish simply swallow their food whole. They gag it down and then let their stomach digest the prey. While humans and mammals chew food to aid the digestive system, this frog doesn’t need to do that.
You’ve seen images of snakes with huge bellies after eating a big meal. If it was freshly caught, it might even still be wriggling inside there as it doesn’t necessarily need to be dead for these types of creatures to eat it.
Snakes obviously have longer, thinner bodies than most other reptiles and amphibians. This can make their eating process longer.
Lips said that this frog probably had a hard time eating the snake. Because it was so long, the frog had to keep gulping it down into its acid-filled belly.
What thoughts come to mind when you look at this image of a frog eating a snake?
