A toad has been caught on camera eating a snake in China in a direct reversal of their normal roles.
The picture of a mountain toad eating a Jerdon's pit viper was taken by a tourist at Qingcheng Mountain park in Sichuan, central China.
Ran Longzhong, from Chongqing, told IC Media that he had been unable to believe his eyes and was happy he had his camera with him.
"I was wandering on the mountain road, and suddenly I spotted a toad that was eating down a snake, which was still struggling," he said.
"The toad ate down the whole snake in around five minutes. It's hard to believe that a predator can be hunted by its prey."
A local zoologist said it was the first time he had ever heard of a snake being eaten by a toad.
The picture of a mountain toad eating a Jerdon's pit viper was taken by a tourist at Qingcheng Mountain park in Sichuan, central China.
Ran Longzhong, from Chongqing, told IC Media that he had been unable to believe his eyes and was happy he had his camera with him.
"I was wandering on the mountain road, and suddenly I spotted a toad that was eating down a snake, which was still struggling," he said.
"The toad ate down the whole snake in around five minutes. It's hard to believe that a predator can be hunted by its prey."
A local zoologist said it was the first time he had ever heard of a snake being eaten by a toad.
Hot hippo gets stuck
An over-heated hippopotamus got stuck after clambering into a 10ft water tower to cool down in South Africa.
After happily splashing around for a while, the animal found it could not get out of the pool again, reports Metro.
Luckily, a farm worker noticed water spilling over the side of the concrete container and spotted two enormous nostrils poking out of the tank.
He immediately rang for help and, within hours, rescuers arrived at the farm in Alkmaar, just outside Nelspruit.
Equipped with a hydraulic crane and a cage, hippo hunter Chris Hobkirk and his team from the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Association set to work.
In a four-hour operation, they drained the tank and used poles to gently nudge the hippo into a 10ft steel cage before winching it to safety.
Mr Hobkirk, who has rescued more than 180 stranded hippos in the past six years, said it was a tricky procedure but he was glad with the outcome.
"Maybe we got lucky with this one. In the past, I have removed hippos from small dams. In those cases, the water levels have always been much lower so this was different." he said.
