A courageous squirrel managed to single-handedly fend off a deadly cobra by leaping at the predator, and cleverly distracting it with its tail.
The footage, which was shared online by Kruger Sightings, depicts the two-and-a-half-minute battle, where the Cape ground squirrel can also be seen throwing dust into the air and swatting at the snake behind a bush in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in South Africa. At one point, the squirrel fearlessly marches towards the cobra with its back arched, and appears to swipe at the animal with its tail.
The cobra then lunges, prompting the squirrel to leap backwards, before it returns to the fight at least 15 times. And when the snake admits defeat and slithers behind a bush, the squirrel pursues in earnest, keeping coming at it till it retreats down a hole, out of sight.
Watch the struggle below:
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"When the kids are involved, moms usually let out the crazy side of themselves and would risk anything and everything to protect their young. This video shows just how hard a mother squirrel would fight to make sure that no threats come near her babies," Kruger sightings captioned the video, which was also posted to their YouTube channel.
Per the video description, safari guide, Dave Pusey, said he had been visiting the park for a number of years, but had never witnessed such a battle. He believes that the rodent could have been trying to protect her children from the predator.
Watch as this scorpion scampers off with a snake:
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"We couldn’t believe our eyes when this scene unfolded before us and after initially fearing for the ground squirrel, we were amazed at the bravery and speed of the squirrel and how it was irritating the deadly snake," he said according to the publication.
"The squirrel kept creeping up to the snake and just as it gets close enough, the snake would launch forward and snap a bite at the squirrel. The squirrel, however, reacted much too quickly and jumped out of the reach of the bite every time!" he continued.
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"I’ve been traveling to the Kgalagadi for many years, and never thought I would ever see something like this, this was truly a once in a lifetime sighting. We waited for the fascinating story to end, and, after about half an hour, the snake took refuge in some bushes and eventually found a hole to slither into. The female squirrel then started relaxing and carried on with her business. It’s most likely that the squirrel had youngsters close by and just wanted the cobra to move away from the area."