Image: Jody via vectarion silence
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water… a big ass python snatches you right back out. Makes a change from a great white, eh?
No doubt some internet users have seen this photograph before; it first appeared in an online ABC article in July 2005 but has since started doing the rounds on the web again, giving cyber newbies a chance to see the startling image for the first time.
Taken by a hiker in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, this stunning image shows a massive olive python trying to drag a wallaby, or wallaroo, from a gorge.
The photographer, known only as Jody, reported the python struggled for about an hour to pull its prey up out of the water, without much success. They eventually left the exhausted snake to catch its breath on the rock ledge.
Olive pythons can grow up to four metres in length and weigh up to 25kg. Their natural habitat is the northern fringe of Australia, from the Pilbara in WA, across the Northern Territory and into Queensland. They favour rocky areas and water-filled gorges, so the ancient ledges of the Kimberley provide perfect hunting grounds. Though it seems wallabies have been left out of the loop on this one!
The article is no longer available on ABC’s website.
Mark is one of the personal finance writers for Money Hacker where he blogs about everything from