Amazing Photo: Snake Escaping from the Belly of a Larger Snake

(Photo: Dick Mulder)

In 2011, a 4-foot long four-lined snake (Elaphe quatuorlineata) swallowed a smaller whip snake (Platyceps najadum) on the Greek island of Corfu. A pet cat then killed the four-lined snake.

Dick Mulder, a Dutchman who lives on the island, snapped photos of the incredible scene that followed. He described it to National Geographic:

"My wife, who didn't like the idea of a dead snake on her veranda, screeched that the snake wasn't dead—she saw it moving," he said in an email. "I reassured her that it was really dead," Mulder recalled—until he took a closer look.

"I went to grab my camera, and by the time I came back I saw the head of a small snake," he said.

The whip snake then fled into the wild. That's one tough little snake!