Snake enthusiast's 'confronting' video of python: 'It's nature'

Duke Orme was simply taking his dogs for a walk on a brisk evening earlier this week when something caught his eye.

"The animals were...tussling in the grassland," he joked to Yahoo News Australia on Thursday.

His description was rather conservative for the "confronting" sight unfolding near his home in Wongaling Beach, situated in Far North Queensland, which consisted of a large scrub python constricting and consuming a wallaby.

Despite admitting it was indeed horrifying, he explained he felt "privileged" to have witnessed the encounter, which took the best part of a hour.

"I take nature for what it is. Every bit of nature has its process and a snake has got to eat," he said. "You do get mixed reactions but people are fascinated by it. It's nature."

Australia's longest snake

Scrub pythons hold the title of the longest snake in Australia and can grow up to eight metres long, according to Australia Zoo.

"They're not necessarily the heaviest for their length but they are long and capable of taking big prey," Duke said.

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Weighing up to 25 kilograms, they coil their large muscular bodies to kill prey before swallowing it whole, with the size of the wallaby in the video "probably about the limit" these snakes can contend with. As constrictors, these snakes are not venomous and instead will hide before ambushing prey.

"They always eat their prey head first as the legs can act as a bit of a fish hook," Duke explained. "It's fascinating."

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