Python with a platypus in its mouth. A scientist recorded an unusual scene

East of Gympie, Queensland, Australia, botanist Elliot Bowerman was searching for a rare variety of myrtle. To his surprise, however, he came across a completely different manifestation of wild nature. “I was just observing Gossia bidwillii when Darren called out ‘there’s a python with a platypus in its mouth’,” he said.

The python was devouring a platypus. It was recorded

Bowerman joined Elliot Bowerman and together they took several photos of the 2-meter-long snake, which had a now-dead oviparous mammal firmly held in its jaw. – So I came and we took some photos. Within a minute we continued our journey, he continued. – We didn’t want to disturb the snake – he explained.

As the scientist explained, the male platypus must have died shortly earlier, probably after a fierce fight. “I imagine he had quite a fight with those poisonous fangs,” he said.

A rare flower in the Australian forest

The 32-year-old admitted that the search for rare plants found only in this area was much more exciting for him. He boasted that together with a friend he had found Croton lucens, a very rare plant that is critically endangered, in Marys Creek State Forest. “It’s endemic to the Gympie area, so it’s really rare,” he emphasized.

The Guardian journalists recalled that finding a python with a platypus was not the first such case for Elliot Bowerman. Last August, the researcher and his partner found a rodent in New South Wales called Antechinus, which was holding a dead representative of its own species in its mouth. This was the first observed case of cannibalism in rodents, which until then were famous for their ability to copulate until death.