Watch: Horns of Dead Duiker Cut Through Python Trying To Swallow It

The horns of an animal are its defence mechanism when it’s alive, but in the case of a dead duiker, the damage infliction was reserved for a python attempting to swallow its carcass whole—the horns cut right through the snake’s head.

Christo Burnette, a wildlife enthusiast, captured the sighting in Kruger National Park and shared the footage with Latest Sightings, which recently published it on their website.

“A male duiker’s horns are 10 centimetres long on average, so this was no light injury for the large python,” the publication’s Heather Djunga explains. “Both horns penetrated right through, in a moment that spectators at the site will never forget.”

Djunga adds: “Pythons lack the jaw structure and teeth necessary for chewing; they have to swallow their prey whole. The python [in question] was coiled around its prey and was as long as it was thick.”

The African rock python is the largest snake on the continent and the duiker is not particularly large for an antelope, still the meal was nowhere near small enough for an easy swallow.

“It seemed the python was going to take forever in feasting on the buck. However, something unexpected then happened: the Duiker’s horn impaled the python,” read the sighting report.

As word about the sighting got around, people started to gather about the scene.

“The growing crowd and noise startled the snake, causing it to retreat, but as it pulled away, the duiker’s horns drove straight through the python’s head," Burnette recalled.

“Luckily, the python could wiggle and jiggle about and set itself free."

“Duiker” means to dive and the buck is so-called due to its flight response, which is to jump into the bushes, when a predator is around.

Not only is the duiker of modest size, but is also shy, as is typical of antelopes.