In a video that has gone viral since Friday, two huge snakes were seen fighting, likely at a National Park in India’s Orissa, that has captured Twitter's attention.
The video was posted on the microblogging platform by Indian Forest Service officer Susanta Nanda, of Bhubaneshwar, who identified the snakes as rat snakes, reports Indian news channel NDTV.
The fight between the two huge serpents begins in water – they were filmed wrapping themselves around each other while swimming in a small creek.
The true size of the snakes, however, becomes apparent only when they emerge out of water and take the fight to the ferns on the bank. The two massive rat snakes can be seen coiling themselves around each other in a "combat for dominance" in this hair-raising clip.
Rat snakes combat for dominance.
— Susanta Nanda IFS (@susantananda3) July 31, 2020
Two male fighting to define their territory & defend their mate. pic.twitter.com/FVn2FIXHte
According to Nanda, the clip shows two male rat snakes “fighting for territory and to defend their mate.”
In the comments section, he also clarified that contrary to popular misconception, the video does not feature a “mating ritual.”
According to the National Geographic, the behaviour where two male snakes twist themselves around each other until one of them falls is known as "plaiting combat."
"Two male fighting to define their territory & defend their mate," tweeted Nanda while sharing the video.
Rat snakes are nonvenomous snakes that kill by constriction, according to Live Science. Medium to large in size, they usually hunt small rodents.
