by It was the circle of life and near-Dᴇᴀᴛʜ at a Texas wildlife center when a hawk and a snake were spotted, caught in the midst of a life-or-Dᴇᴀᴛʜ sᴛʀᴜɢɢʟᴇ.
Schoolchildren in Texas, while on a field trip in Northwest, recently came across the shocking sight of a hawk and a snake ᴇɴɢᴀɢᴇᴅ in a ꜰɪɢʜᴛ. Seventh graders saw a huge western rat snake wrapped around a red-tailed hawk at the Northwest Independent School District’s Outdoor Learning Center, according to a Facebook post by Texas Parks and Wildlife-DFW Urban Wildlife. In this ꜰɪɢʜᴛ, however, there were no winners or losers – as both the hawk and the snake sᴜʀᴠɪᴠᴇᴅ the battle.
The Facebook post came alongside a series of three images, said to have been shot by an Outdoor Learning Center Coordinator called Amy, featuring close up details of the ʙᴀᴛᴛʟᴇ between the bird of ᴘʀᴇʏ and reptile.
In the images, the hawk can be seen frozen with its beak open and tongue out, as if screaming, while the snake has coiled the length of its body around the hawk, effectively pinning its wings in place so that it cannot fly away.
The snake’s upper half and jaws, however, are caught in the bird’s substantially-sized talons. In a particularly close-up shot, the snake can be seen with its jaws wide open, preparing to bite the webbing between the hawk’s talons.
Close-up photos of the hawk-and-snake sᴛʀᴜɢɢʟᴇ revealed that the bird was being sᴛʀᴀɴɢʟᴇᴅ by the snake, which was trapped between the hawk’s talons. Neither animal appeared willing to let go for quite some time.
Luckily for both hawk and snake, after attempting to squeeze each other to Dᴇᴀᴛʜ for a suitable amount of time, they jinxed each other by crying uncle at about the same time, enabling them go on and ᴅɪᴇ another day.
Pics of the hawk and the rat snake have been ‘shared’ over 2,700 times, and have collected almost 5,000 reactions. While some expressed surprise that the hawk didn’t win the ꜰɪɢʜᴛ, others marvelled at the rare sight.
“Nice, normally the hawk wins,” wrote one person in the comments section. “Rare indeed to come across. Wow!” said another.
