Who wins in a fight between a flying hawk and a slithering snake?
Naturally, a Red-tailed hawk is going to have some advantages in a battle with a snake. You’d usually be safe siding with the animal that has the ability to fly, but you can’t ever count out the quick reflexes and strikes of a snake.
This type of matchup out in the wild is the human equivalent of a heavy weight matchup. If a hawk versus snake matchup was a pay-per-view event, the two fighters would be feared, but for very different, distinct fighting styles.
Hawks like to use the element of surprise, and depend on catching their prey off guard in order to take them down. When hawks are able to get the jump on their opponent, it’s usually game over once the big birds get their talons into position (and proceed to shred and pull apart their prey).
Snakes, on the other hand, rely heavily on their quick reflexes to come away from face offs on the winning side. It obviously helps a snake to be venomous, but even if they aren’t, the slithering reptiles only attack in “quick windows,” striking when they have the chance, and always pulling back to safety in between.
So when these two creatures are pitted against each other, it’s really a battle of strengths, and hoping that the other doesn’t expose its weaknesses.
A hawk would be trying to overpower the snake, and taking it out before it could really know what hit it, whereas a snake would be dependent on playing defense and only going on the offensive side when the time was right.
And let me tell you, it looks like the hawk in this video pretty much got the best of the snake from the very beginning. Though it looks like the snake got in a couple of good jabs on the large hawk, the sharp taloned bird was in control throughout the entire encounter.
About a minute into the footage, the Red-tailed hawk appears to really give the “knockout blow,” which is narrated by the person filming:
“Did you see that? Put its claw right on its head.”
The snake flipped and flopped a little bit after that, but that literal killer move by the hawk effectively ended the fight, and if we’re continuing the boxing metaphor, caused the bell to ring.
Around this time in the video, things shift from “boxing” to “WWE” as another hawk comes out of nowhere, looking to face off against the hawk with the snake on the line. All that was missing was some theme music for the hawk that flew in and landed nearby.
However, the hawk that had just taken down the snake wanted nothing to do with another fight, so it picked up the snake and proceeded to fly off to eat its dinner in peace.
Take a look at the incredible footage below:
