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A bat has been left traumatized after surviving the deadly grip of a python during an hour-long battle in eastern Australia.
Snake Catchers Brisbane & Gold Coast and wildlife charity Bat Conservation & Rescue QLD in Queensland, both posted about the encounter on Facebook.
Images shared by the snake catching business showed a black flying fox and carpet python locked in a life-and-death struggle at a residential property near Brisbane.
The black flying fox, an adult male the charity has called Morelia, was caught by the python, which attempted to kill the bat by constricting its body around it to suffocate it.
Black Flying Foxes are abundant along the coasts of northern Australia.
They are far smaller than carpet pythons—the species involved in the encounter. Black flying foxes typically grow to 10 inches in length and weigh up to 2.2 pounds. Carpet pythons can grow over 13 feet in length.
Carpet pythons normally feed on frogs, lizards, birds and small mammals. They are also known to consume bats.
In this case, the flying fox managed to escape the snake's grip by fighting back, as Snake Catchers Brisbane and Gold Coast staffer Bryce Lockett told Newsweek: "This is my second time experiencing this kind of encounter but it's always amazing to see these things playing out in front of your eyes," he said. "The flying fox was biting onto the snake the whole time for over an hour when the snake eventually gave up."
See posts, photos and more on Facebook.
The snake catcher said the bat was one of the largest the Bat Conservation and Rescue QLD had ever rescued, weighing almost 2.2 pounds. He said the bite force of black flying foxes was strong as they use the attribute to get into the fruit that they eat in the wild.
"The snake was checked out, cleared and released and the flying fox impressively only had some small membrane tears which will completely heal," Lockett said.
"These encounters are common but not often the prey survive the constriction of a carpet python," Lockett said. "The reason why we don't intervene is the same reason why David Attenborough [doesn't] stop a predator taking down its prey. It's nature and nature can be brutal sometimes. However the second the carpet python gave up on his meal I was straight onto the phone to Bat Conservation & Rescue QLD to get the flying fox the help it needed."
An update posted by Bat Conservation and Rescue QLD on Facebook showed the bat in their care: "He's feeling very traumatized by his experience so he's currently enjoying some warmth, dark and quiet only interrupted by mango smoothie feeds," the post said. "Morelia will spend a few weeks in our care before he's recovered enough to be released back into the wild, hopefully a little more vigilant of pythons."
"We would like to stress that pythons are beautiful and an important part of our ecosystem. We hold no ill will towards pythons and encourage homeowners to live harmoniously with these non-venomous rat catchers."
