The photographer Raz Einhorn managed to document today (Thursday) an impressive moment of a terrifying battle between a mongoose and a viper - one of nine poisonous snakes in Israel.
It's been a week since Einhorn noticed that near his workplace, next to a fish farm in Kibbutz Nir David, every morning an enormous viper snake emerges.
This morning, Einhorn noticed a mongoose near the snake's hiding place.
In a moment's decision, he decided to pull out his cell phone and take a picture of the meeting of the animals.
To his amazement, he saw that the mongoose decided to fight the snake and finally managed to capture it as breakfast.
The Nature and Parks Authority stated that the mongoose has a unique ability to deal with the viper's venom, so it can fight it and capture it despite its venom.
One of the nine venomous snakes that exist in the Land of Israel.
Nachsa Tzafa, photo: Nachsa Tsafa, photo credit: Limor Katan Friedman, Israel Nature and Parks Authority.
As mentioned, the viper is one of the nine poisonous snakes that exist in the land of Israel, most of which live in the desert area, while it inhabits the Mediterranean area.
Its venom glands are located in the back of the skull and give the head a characteristic triangular structure.
A tube runs from the venom glands to the venom teeth, which are automatically pulled out when the viper opens its mouth.
The venom teeth are hollow, and similar to a syringe, when the viper stabs its teeth, the venom is injected through the tooth into the prey tissue.
The venom paralyzes or kills the prey (the speed depends on its size and the amount of venom injected).
Venoms have different proteins, including enzymes that break down the prey's tissues and actually start the digestive process.
The common mongoose is a low and elongated mammal in the mongoose family of carnivores.
Its color is gray-brown and its legs and tail are darker than the rest of its body.
Mongooses feed mainly on birds, fruits and vegetables, small mammals, insects, and as you can see in the video, reptiles as well.
The mongooses live in groves and forests, and in agricultural areas.
Many times, the mongooses enter towns and cities in search of organic waste in the garbage cans and food for animals scattered on the streets.
Mongooses know how to deal with snakes in general, and also with the viper which is considered poisonous.
Namia, photo: Liron Katz, RTG volunteer
Dotan Rotem, open areas ecologist at the Nature and Parks Authority: "It is a well-known phenomenon that mongooses know how to deal with snakes in general, and also with the viper, which is considered poisonous. Molecular studies have found that the nervous system of the mongoose has receptors that do not react to the paralyzing venom of the snakes, which makes them resistant to the arc The snake. The mongoose is a very useful animal, and helps in the natural extermination of pests such as rodents. In different parts of the world, mongooses are raised as pets to protect the house from snakes."
"In Israel, the mongoose is a protected animal according to the law. In order to reduce the use of poisons in agriculture, we recommend leaving openings in the plantation fences that allow the passage of mongooses and other small predators that will do the job in the natural way and prevent secondary poisoning as a result of the incorrect use of poisons against rodents."
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