While wandering about the ISH compound this afternoon with a couple of friends this dropped down from a nearby branch...
Over the next 15 minutes we watched this beautiful
Paradise Tree Snake,
Chrysopelea paradisi variabilis (Thanks to Emerson Sy for the ID), slowly, very slowly, devour an even more beautiful
Emerald Tree Skink,
Lamprolepis smaragdina. Its first grip was on the belly, at about the midpoint. The coils had the skink completely motionless within a fraction of a second. This snake is one of the very small number of 'flying snakes' from SE Asia.
After a while it released its grip on the belly, and slowly moved towards the head end...
Almost caressing the helpless prey...
The snake became aware of us, about 3m away, and paused briefly to make sure it was safe to eat...
which it then started to do...
...incredibly slowly, but with a terrible inevitability...
...in you go...
With the skink now dead it was safe to release the death grip and get into an easier swallowing position...
...extraordinary to watch...
....burp...
