Oko Ake Wanji

Monday, May 9 to Sunday, May 15, 2011: high 69, low 35

An amazing confrontation between rabbit and bull snake this Monday morning. Apparently there were some baby rabbits around, because the adult, supposedly a female, kept pestering the bull snake. She had the snake so mad it was hissing loudly and striking at her repeatedly. The rabbit would get close and then when the snake struck, she would jump out of the way, just ahead of the snake’s bite. And all this happened in a fraction of a second. Behind and beside the snake, in the pictures above and immediately below, is fur from the rabbit. Though the rabbit could elude the snake’s strike, seemingly without effort, she sometimes ran directly over the snake and in the process would be bitten. The fur around the snake is evidence of this.

But maybe the rabbit intentionally let herself be bitten, because in so doing, the snake eventually ended up with a mouthful of fur, as you can see in the picture below. The snake then dragged its mouth along the ground in order to dislodge the fur. All the striking and biting and hissing seemed to tire out the snake. The rabbit too, after the snake was dispatched, went a ways away and plopped down, sprawled out, and looked to be totally exhausted.