Snake lunges for airborne bats

[50centpb7]

fucking camper...

[Rezxer]

Too bad we don't see it catch a bat, but watching it trying is interesting too. Aside from that, after watching so many nature videos, you'd begin to think the chance of successfully catching prey on a hunt for predators is something like 90%...as opposed to 5%.

Good video.

[JDC1985WWE]

this snake does have a scientific name its called a Othriophis taeniurus ridleyi (Ridleys Racer) i no this cause i own some and thay are an amazing snake kind of agressive tho

[darrylsweetland]

@JDC1985WWE There are many sub-species of Orthriophis taeniurus in Asia.

O. t. ridleyi is confined to Malaysia, and possibly south Thailand. The snake I filmed here in the middle part of Thailand is similar to ridleyi but on close inspection can be clearly differentiated from it. The scale count in particular is very different, not only from ridleyi, but also from the other known sub-species of this area. I've heard that Shulz (the Elaphe expert) may have a name for this sub-species soon.

[JDC1985WWE]

@darrylsweetland i no what you are saying but i have watched this vid again and again could it be possible that the specimen in this vid could be a Vietnamese blue beauty witch is so similar to comparison ???

[darrylsweetland]

@JDC1985WWE Don't forget that the snakes in this group are sub-species and are therefore inevitably similar. In addition they are often crossed in the pet trade with the resulting hybrids sold under various exotic names, further increasing the confusion.

Happily, this snake now has a scientific name:- Orthriophis taeniurus helfenbergeri with its known distribution being West and NW Thailand and into Burma.

There are no rules for English names so I suggest: Confusing Beauty Snake

[darrylsweetland]

@JDC1985WWE Actually it's a shame we don't see the back of the snake in this clip for you would see a beautiful golden yellow line running down the back.

You could search my previous film of this snake on earth-touch which contains some detailed still photos.

On the subject of names I must apologise for appearing as taitoy1 for my first comment in this thread. I was using a nephew's computer and failed to notice we were logged in under his name!

[Chriscjs]

@JDC1985WWE haha dude....you just got taken to school and owned.

[ambitiouscitizen]

This is a spectacular video! Anything showing natural snake behavior in the wild is good but this is simply extraordinary. It would have been wonderful to see it catch one. I'm amazed at how little we know about snake behavior in the wild. Good show!

[taitoy1]

Thanks amitiouscitizen,

This was great fun to film and I was so pleased that the snake continued to behave naturally despite my lights.

I was also hoping it would manage to catch a bat - but it was not to be this time.

Last year I tried to film this behaviour and the two snakes I was watching both caught bats very quickly - too quickly for me to catch on film though!!

Perhaps I'll get it next time - look out for the next installment.