ZOO DRAMA

Te Aroha News, Volume XLI, Issue 6572, 5 February 1925, Page 7

ZOO DRAMA

The interest of the visitors to the Reptile House in the Zoological Gardens, London, was aroused in the enormous bulging form of a 6ft king snake. Its abnormal bulk was found to be due to the fact that the previous night it had swallowed a companion of the same size as itsef, with which it had lived in apparent harmony fdr several months. Although living principally on other snakes, the king has a reputation for not attacking its own kind. The exception to 9 the rule must however be more numerous than is generally supposed, as this is the second occasion that a king snake living in the zoo has swallowed one of its kind. About, a year ago a similar tragedy was only just averted for when the keeper’s attention was drawn to the occurrence less than half of the victim’s body prdtruded from the mouth of the voracious aggressor, which, with difficulty, was forced to disgorge. It would have been imagined that the unfortunate creature that had been swallowed almost whole would have succumbed, or at any rate have taken a considerable time to recover from the shock. Not so, however, as the incident merely served to stimulate its appetite, for on being removed to another cage and within ten minutes of being disgorged; the snake that had under jjgone the ordeal itself fed upon a large rat;