other occasions it may be deliber-
ate, or even accidental - for example
when animals fight over food. New
hatchlings are inexperienced and
particularly vulnerable. I remember
once when I had about 15 hatchling
Bell’s phase Lace Monitors in an
enclosure. One day I looked in and
saw that one of them had tried to
eat a sibling.
1.
I was also reminded of the above
paper when I found one of my male
Perenties with the tail of a female
hanging out of its mouth. I managed
to pull the dead animal out and took
some photos. The female had some
severe wounds, so the male had
already killed her prior to swallow-
ing her carcass. The male was about
two metres in length, whereas the
female was over one metre. How
did it happen? Well, often you don’t
witness these events as they unfold,
but simply come upon the after-
math. In this instance, the animals
had not been eating; I have no idea
what goes on in their heads!
In good seasons, my Bell’s phase
enclosure is full of long grass. Once,
shortly after providing the monitors
with a meal of a whole lot of dead
chickens, I spied a male with a tail
poking from its mouth. Again, I
managed to pull the dead animal
out and take some photos. Like the
female Perentie it had been killed
2.
‘I found the male with the tail
of a
female hanging out of his mouth!’
3.
1. This large male
Perentie has
just eaten a
small female.
2. I managed to
pull the dead
animal out and
take some
photos.
3. Judging by the
nature of the
wounds it had
sustained, it
was probably
already dead
before being
swallowed.