For my second installment in the “One Day on Earth” project, in which filmmakers around the world are invited to contribute footage which may be used in a feature-length film, I was also in Madagascar’s Andasibe-Mantadia National Park. Technically, we were in the “Réserve Spéciale d’Analamazaotra,” and we were watching an indri (the largest kind of lemur) that had come down to within about 12 feet of the ground. Suddenly we heard what sounded like a cross between a shriek, or squeal (which also appeared to startle the indri) and were shortly informed that a tree boa had caught a frog. Suspended by the last few inches of its tail, the meter-long snake then proceeded to eat a tree frog several times larger than its head. At first it didn’t seem like the snake would be able to get the frog’s front legs into its mouth, but with a gradual “walking” motion of its jaws, it managed to consume the amphibian – in somewhat grotesque fashion – and eventually made its way back up the tree.
It ended up being an exciting morning, as the pair of indris (they are monogamous and live in pairs or community groups) began their hourly calls while the snake was having a meal, and immediately following, we nearly ran face-first into a foot-long chameleon that was doing his best to imitate a stick. You can see those in my previous post. In the meantime, here is the snake:
One Day on Earth – 12.12.12: Snake Eats Frog (Madagascar) from Tom – TAZM Pictures on Vimeo.
