cobra with a catch ( Frog)

[Ahiraj Bhat]

canon 40D, 70-300IS
Aperture:F/8
Shutter Speed: 1/125
ISO:200
Location: Hasergatta ( near Bangalore)

[Sabyasachi Patra]

I guess the frog has expanded itself to prevent swallowing. How did you find this? Do you have any other compositions? A bigger image would have made for better viewing. The depth of field has nearly covered the snake, except for part of the tail. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Mrudul Godbole]

Lovely action captured. The details on the skin are nice. Some more space all around would be good. Do you have any more in this series with a lower angle? Do post.

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Nice find. Do post more from the series if you have them. I suppose you could have gone for a close up...(?)
There is a kind of snake called the Hog-Nosed Snake, also found in India. It has modified teeth at the back of its mouth, which it uses to puncture inflated frogs before swallowing.

[Sagar Patil]

Sabyasachi: Can you pls explain, how a frog can expand its body that too it is almost dead at this moment.?
Or Can the reason be something like this - a venom affected on frog's body cells to expand (i.e. Tissue breaking)

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Sagar : Frogs and toads expand by gulping in air. In this case, the frog would have been dead (completely) or else the cobra wouldn't have started swallowing it. So maybe they retain the air in their body after they are dead...(?)
Tissue breakdown would not take place in cobra bites, it is a feature of viper bites.

[Sagar Patil]

Ooops.. thanks Abhi. Its great info and I corrected myself.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Abhishek is right. Normally, the frogs try to bloat themselves to make them appear larger. That is a standard tactics. This also might be a bull frog which is large in size. The fangs of the snake puncture the lungs and the air is normally released slowly. The venom basically acts in aiding the digestion process.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Bibhav Behera]

Ahh my favourite kind of snake having lunch... Looks yummy... :P
The DOF has almost covered upto the tail. You can post a larger image upto 800px on longer side for critiquing. Agree about frogs bloating to avoid predators. A similar tactic is used by the puffer fish (it gulps water though)...
PS: The puffer fish is highly poisonous though, but is eaten in japan as a delicacy called fugu.