10 Predators Whose Eyes Were Bigger Than Their Stomachs

Copyright 2018 by Gary L. Pullman

Hunger drives most predators. Whether they inhabit the land or the sea or command the sky, they strike targets of opportunity. Usually, they regard their prey as smaller or weaker than themselves, or as relatively helpless. Most predators are big, fast, and ferocious. Nature has given them an advantage over their intended victims. Even when their prey are themselves predators, their attackers often outweigh them or are equipped with better offensive abilities. The outcome, from the predator's point of view, is all but certain: they will win the struggle, and they will feed, appeasing the desperate hunger that drives them for another day or two, at least. Occasionally, though, predators become prey. Sometimes, their eyes are bigger than their stomachs, and, quite literally, they bite off more than they can chew. These 10 predators fit this category. 

10 Alligator vs. Electric Eel

An alligator that decided to sample an electric eel made a fatal mistake. Watching the snake-like fish as it seemed to struggle, close to the shore of a river, its head on dry land, the alligator snapped its jaws shut on its prey. A few moments later, the alligator's body stiffened, and the reptile was still, its jaws teeth firmly sunk into the eel. The alligator's lower body began to sink below the surface of the water. It's left hind leg thrashed once, and then it died, having been electrocuted by its prey. (LINK 1)

According to experts, eels pack quite an electrical wallop. Their “electric organs” are equipped with nearly “6,000 specialized cells.” When the eel “is threatened or attacking,” the cells “discharge simultaneously, emitting a burst of at least 600 volts,” a shock “five times” stronger than that of “a standard U. S. wall socket.” (LINK 2) 

9 Cane Toads vs. Crocodiles

Invasive cane toads are playing havoc with the local population of freshwater crocodiles in Australia's Northern Territory. Along the “front” of the cane toad's invasion, scientists discovered a “massive mortality” among the reptiles, with those of “an intermediate size” succumbing more often than larger specimens. The crocodiles' population dropped by 77 percent “following the toad invasion” and may plummet further as the predators continue to fall victims to the “highly toxic toads” they attempt to devour. (LINK 3 

8 Coral Snake vs. Cat-eyed Night Snake 

Another animal whose eyes proved bigger than its stomach is the coral snake that tried to swallow a cat-eyed night snake. Although some snakes can consume prey bigger than themselves, the deadly, toxic coral snake was not one of them. The death struggle took place in Paraíba State, Northeast Brazil. Although the smaller snake succeeded in partially swallowing its prey, the larger reptile became “lodged” in the coral snake's esophagus, causing it to die of asphyxiation. The coral snake may have tried to fold its prey into “waves,” but, unable to do so, it couldn't regurgitate its would-be meal, and, as a result, it suffocated. The coral snake's fatality was attributed to “an error on the calculation of the predator while choosing the prey.” In other words, it bit off more than it could chew. (LINK 4) 

7 Kingfisher vs. Snake 

In the mood for a snake supper, a kingfisher dove for its dinner, only to find its intended meal wasn't about to go down quietly. Grabbing the bird around its neck, the snake joined battle in a desperate effort to avoid being devoured alive. Photographer Nitin Jain, “admiring the wildlife in Pune, India,” happened to be on hand to capture the struggle on film. The kingfisher emerged from the water, but the snake, which Jain believed may have been a keelback, dunked the predatory bird under the surface several times before the bird managed to escape and fly to the safety of a nearby tree. There it remained, Jain said, for two hours, in shock, recovering from its ordeal. (LINK 5) 

6 Python vs. Porcupine 

The mountain biker who discovered the African rock python in South Africa's Lake Eland Game Reserve wasn't sure what the snake had eaten. Possibly, he thought, it was a “small warthog or an impala calf.” Instead, the injudicious snake had swallowed a porcupine, and “dozens” of the the prey's “needle-sharp quills” stabbed through the python's “innards,” killing the bloodied predator. It's quills apparently had “lodged inside the digestive tract,” the Reserve's General Manager Jennifer Fuller speculated. Although the porcupine killed the python, it, too, was a fatality. (LINK 6) 

5 Shark vs. Sea Lion 

Thrashing about in the shallows off Western Australia's Coronation Beach, in an apparent attempt to disgorge a recently devoured sea lion upon which it was choking, a shark washed ashore the next day, dead. Australia's Department of Fisheries determined the sea lion may have “damaged the shark’s internal organs.” Alternatively, it is possible the predator “stranded” itself in shallow water as it sought to “get rid of the obstruction.” In either case, the predator had had a belly full and didn't survive. (LINK 7) 

The shark, a great white, measured 4 meters (13 feet) long. Reports don't indicate the length of the sea lion. (LINK 8) 

4 Snake vs. Goat 

A goat would seem to be a large meal for a snake, but a 6-meter (20-foot) Burmese black python apparently supposed it was big enough to accomplish the task. Mallik Sobha villagers who lived in the Jalpaiguri district of eastern India “heard a goat wailing near the forest.” Following the animal's distressed bleats, “they were dumbfounded” to spy the snake “coiling around” the goat's cadaver, as it tried to swallow it. Unaware the goat had already died, the villagers tried to pull it from the snake's mouth. The goat was not the first of the villager's livestock to suffer this fate, the animal's owner, Rohul Amin, said. Earlier the same year, snakes had “killed two to three cows, lambs, and a sheep.” Bagging the predator, the villagers transported the snake away from Mallik Sobha by rickshaw. (LINK 9)
 
3 Snapping Turtle vs. Pelican 

Surprised from below by a snapping turtle that clamped onto it as it was swimming at Lake of the Woods in Sioux Narrows, Ontario, a pelican was locked into a fight for its life. Amid a “splashing and flailing of wings,” the pelican fought to get away, but the predatory turtle hung on tightly. Finally, the bird was able to escape, narrowly avoiding becoming an avian appetizer for its ravenous foe. (LINK 10) 

2 Lions vs. Hippopotamus 

It was four against one as lionesses sought to kill a hippopotamus. Their battle was caught on film by a pair of French photographers, Laurent Renaud and Dominique Haution. The predators, acting together, forced their prey into a muddy ravine, jumping onto its back. However, the hippo managed to fend them off and “bellowed” in an effort to frighten the lionesses away. Running through the mud, the hippo climbed out of the ditch, but one of the lionesses leaped on it from behind, trying to pierce the animal's thick skin with her teeth. The hippo shook them off and chased them through the tall grass. Although the hippo bore some deep lacerations from the lionesses' claws, it escaped with its life. (LINK 11) 

1 Snake vs. Centipede 

Not all battles between predators and prey are also battles between two animals. One such conflict involved a 20.3-centimeter (8-inch) “juvenile female” nose-horned viper and the 15.4-centimeter (6-inch) centipede it swallowed. The prey, at 4.8 grams (.17 ounces), outweighed the 4.2-gram (15-ounce) predator. The prey constituted 84% of the predator’s trunk length, 112% of its body width, and 114% of the snake’s body weight.” The snake, clearly, had bitten off more than it could chew. In swallowing the centipede, the snake had obliterated its own internal organs, as a dissection of the predator showed: “the absence of the snake’s visceral organs,” indicated “the entire volume of its body was occupied by the centipede.” Researchers suspect the young snake gravely underestimated the size and strength of the centipede, which itself is known as a ferocious predator.” As a result, the centipede, while yet alive inside the snake, may have eaten its way through the snake, almost reaching its freedom.” (LINK 12)

LINK 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPqbb2xH7iY 
LINK 2: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/electric-eel/ 
LINK 3: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320708001511 
LINK 4: http://www.herpetologynotes.seh-herpetology.org/Volume5_PDFs/Cavalcanti_Herpetology_Notes_Volume5_pages129-131.pdf 
LINK 5: https://uk.news.yahoo.com/kingfisher-bites-off-more-chew-141044922.html 
LINK 6: http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/animals/greedy-python-bites-off-more-than-he-can-chew-attempts-to-eat-porcupine/news-story/6b9ad8a39e1cc3d7368457815ba6d913 
LINK 7: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/17/shark-chokes-sea-lion_n_5595824.html; http://www.tn 
LINK 8: http://www.tntmagazine.com/news/weird/jaws-bites-off-more-than-he-can-chew-ends-up-sleeping-with-the-fishes 
LINK 9: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/greedy-snake-bites-more-can-8154379 
LINK 10: http://www.wideopenspaces.com/watch-what-a-snapping-turtle-can-do-to-a-pelican/ 
LINK 11: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2744807/Back-Angry-hippo-turns-tables-pride-lions-fends-four-predators-own.html 
LINK 12: http://ecol-mne.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Arsovski-et-al.pdf