Rare clash of royals and cannibalism captured in S'pore forest

A king cobra swallows another of same species while still alive in a mangrove forest in the west

- Lan Cheng

"Huge snake!!!" read the caption of a video that snake photographer Daryl Tan's father sent him on the afternoon of June 6.

At that point, the elder Mr Tan did not realise that he was possibly the first person here to have recorded on camera a king cobra cannibalising another member of its species, swallowing it whole while it was still alive.

Mr Tan leapt when he saw his father's video, shot at a mangrove forest in the western part of the island.

"He often sends me pictures and videos of snakes as he knows I get excited at every sighting, and also asks me to identify the species," the 35-year-old educator told The Straits Times.

"Often, they are just common snakes, like painted bronzebacks and paradise tree snakes, but this time he struck gold without even realising it." King cobras are a rare sight in Singapore, and are even harder to find with their prey.

The species is classified as vulnerable in the Singapore Red Data Book, which provides information such as the scientific and common names along with descriptions of each plant and animal species here.

There was only one other recorded sighting of a king cobra attacking another member of its species, in April 2019, but the observer did not stay to view the rest of the event, so it is unclear if the smaller snake was eventually killed or eaten.

Mr Daryl Tan said: "Any sighting of predation, regardless of the species, is always significant." In his 19 years of photographing wildlife, he had encountered only one other case of reptile cannibalism, with a gecko preying on another.