Tourist films snake furiously digging deep hole at Uluru: 'So rare to see'
A family visiting Uluru were shocked to see the snake repeatedly shoving its head into the ground and flinging dirt to the side.
An Aussie family visiting Uluru have captured the “very cool” moment they stumbled upon a highly-venomous snake digging a large hole in the Outback’s iconic red dirt.
Footage shows the long brown snake repeatedly furiously shoving its head into the ground and flinging dirt to the side of the hole as the group watches on in fascination. A Sydney man named Darren posted the clip to the Snake Identification Australia Facebook page on Thursday, revealing he took the video during sunset.
“I think it’s trying to find one of those field mice. It can smell it I reckon, it keeps going deeper and deeper,” he can be heard saying behind the camera. “He’s in a fair way,” a woman adds.
Aussies stunned by snake's 'amazing' behaviour
Numerous Aussies were quick to rave about the snake’s “amazing behaviour” and “determination”.
“This is so sick! So rare to see,” one viewer commented.
“I don’t recall ever seeing a video of a venomous snake using their head to dig out a hole like that,” wildlife expert and creator of the page, Mathew Hampton, said. “Very cool! No arms or legs but they’re still very capable animals. Snakes are amazing.”
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Experts agree snake is burrowing for rodent
After watching the footage, Dr Andrew Amey, Collection Manager Herpetology at Queensland Museum, confirmed to Yahoo News Australia that the snake in the video looks like a Western Brown Snake, “although it’s difficult to be sure”.
“Generally, snakes are not great diggers, so it is unlikely it would be digging a hole,” he said before agreeing with Darren’s theory.
“It looks to me like this snake has found a burrow with a rodent in it and the rodent is defending itself, hence the sudden withdrawals of the snake when it gets bitten,” Dr Amey added.
Reptile expert Dr Glenn Shea told Yahoo that “although rarely documented, this sort of digging behaviour has been reported previously for several Australian snakes”.
Many snake species that live around Uluru “are burrowers that spend most of their lives underground,” Professor Rick Shine told Yahoo on Friday.
“The snake may well have been hoping to find an edible morsel at the bottom of the hole – perhaps a lizard or a mouse,” he said.
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