A conservationist has described the chance sight of a southern carpet python devouring a critically endangered numbat as an emotional yet “exciting” moment.
Key points:
- A man has photographed a southern carpet python devouring a numbat in the wild
- Both species are native to the area although the numbat is critically endangered
- A leading herpetologist says the numbat was likely constricted to death by the snake
Sean Van Alphen was in the Dryandra Woodland National Park in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt surveying numbat numbers on Friday when he witnessed the grisly encounter.
“I’m thinking, ‘That might be a numbat. There’s a very good chance it’s going to be a numbat’,” Mr Van Alphen said.
“And lo and behold, yes, it was. It was a bundle of stripes and it was in the process of being swallowed.”
The woodland is home to one of a few wild numbat populations left in the state.
Confronting but ‘exciting’
Mr Van Alphen said he was conflicted by the sight.
“It was something that I suppose as an avid ‘numbler’, as we call ourselves — well, you’re torn, but you really want to see that,” he said.
“It’s brutal yet very exciting to witness.”
WA herpetologist Mike Banford said it was rare to see that kind of encounter in the wild.
“It’s such an honour to be able to witness an event like that,” he said.
Southern carpet pythons do not eat very much but when they do, it is usually something large like a numbat.
“This is just a python doing its thing really,” Mr Banford said.
“Most animals end up having grizzly ends. That’s the way nature functions.”
Mr Banford said the numbat in this instance was probably already dead when Sean Van Alphen photographed it.
“Snakes don’t take bites. They’re pretty well known for their method of catching prey and eating prey,” he said.
“They grab their prey and constrict it, which basically means they squeeze it until it can’t breathe.
“Once the python had it, that was pretty much curtains for the creature.”
Healthy numbat numbers
Mr Van Alphen said he had been visiting and surveying the Dryandra Woodland National Park for 25 years and was encouraged by the numbers of endangered numbats.
“We saw 21 live numbats on the weekend, 22 if you want to include the one that perished with the python,” he said.
Mr Banford said numbats produce a high number of babies, which was promising for the species.
“And that’s the way populations work,” he said.
“They have to produce lots of babies and survive with some mortality, which in this case was caused by a python.”
