Overly Ambitious Adder Attempts To Eat Hare 10 Times Its Mass In Gnarly Video

We’ve all been there – playing a game of “Chubby Bunny” only to find that actually, you can’t quite fit as many marshmallows in your mouth as you thought. A common European adder found itself in a similar situation on a Danish island, where it was filmed trying – and failing – to eat a young hare far bigger than itself. Sad times for the snake – but great news for science.

The female adder was spotted making its overly ambitious attempt by Klaus Birch, co-author of a new study detailing the interaction, back in August 2022, near a beach on the island of Læsø. 

In footage captured by Birch, the snake – which was estimated to be about 60 centimeters [24 inches] long and weigh 110 grams (4 ounces) – can be seen slowly examining the hare’s (30 centimeters long, 1,000 grams [12 inches, 35 ounces]) head and limbs with its snout, taking the occasional chomp. According to the study’s authors, this is thought to be how adders assess the size of their prey, and whether or not it can be swallowed.

Why was the adder going for prey so much bigger than itself? Turns out, it was likely in need of a hefty meal. “The female adder appeared to be in a low nutritional status, probably after having recently given birth,” the authors explain. A bit like how humans crave a massive Chinese takeaway or McDonald’s after popping out a sprog, then. 

Birch eventually chased the adder away in an effort to save the young hare, but it was too late. Whether or not it would’ve swallowed its prey had Birch not intervened “remains an open question”, the authors write, though they add that they “find it likely that the individual on Læsø would have abandoned its excessively large prey after careful examination.”

You may be wondering what’s got scientists so hyped about a snake trying to eat such large prey. After all, it’s not exactly unheard of – in just one example of wild snake footage on the internet, an African rock python was witnessed swallowing an entire impala.

But according to the study authors, attempts by snakes to kill and then eat significantly oversized prey are actually poorly documented in scientific literature. From what we do know, it seems that abandoning such prey “may well be an underreported phenomenon” as a result.

The authors point to multiple cases – both published and unpublished – where other snake species, including brown tree snakes, various rattlesnake species, and sidewinders, had all abandoned substantially larger prey. Similarities with the case of the overly ambitious adder and the unfortunate hare help to back up the theory that the killing and then abandonment of oversized prey by snakes might be more common than we thought.

The study is published in Herpetozoa.