This astonishing incident occurred at a training camp in Sᴏᴜᴛʜ Aғʀɪᴄᴀ when a python smothered and then devoured a Vervet monkey. The snake dragged its food into the bushes and swallowed it completely, no matter how large it was.

Warwick Neil Guy, a wildlife and conservation student, snapped the amazing moment on a deserted dirt road at the Bhejane Training Camp in Hluhluwe, Sᴏᴜᴛʜ Aғʀɪᴄᴀ. The 23-year-old described he and his roommate Jason were having a leisurely afternoon stroll around the property when he came across the python and the monkey along the fence line.

The action was about a meter away from them at their ᴄʟᴏsᴇst, but they moved around as it progressed. Along the fence line, they were in front of the snake. The monkey was still alive and trying to grab onto the snake when they first noticed the python and it was still squeezing and smothering the monkey.

The Vervet monkey was choked to ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ and was lying lifeless on the gravel road. It was injured during the ᴀᴛᴛᴀᴄᴋ, but asphyxiation rather than poison or biting caused its ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ.

The large python dragged it into the bushes where it would be devoured. As daylight fell, the snake opened its jaw to enᴄʟᴏsᴇ the monkey in its mouth and started to eat it. Despite its size, the python devoured the poor Vervet monkey in one sitting, dislocating its jaw in the process. Only the Vervet monkey’s tail was left protruding out of the python’s mouth after it had almost finished its meal.

The python is a type of constrictor snake, which means it will squeeze its prey of all life before consuming it whole. Warwick Neil Guy said that he had never taken fantastic pictures like those before, and he doubted he would ever see a python and a monkey interact like this again. He believed it was a highly unusual encounter, and he was really lucky to have seen it.