Striking photo of kookaburra eating huge snake

A striking photo of a kookaburra attempting to eat a huge snake has gone viral – even amusing experts.

The spectacular moment a kookaburra dined out on a massive snake in Queensland has been captured in a now-viral photo.

The iconic Australian bird, known for its laughing call, has a lesser known skill: eating snakes. Even venomous ones.

Kookaburras watch their prey from above, swoop down and grab them with their beak.

With snakes, they usually hit them against trees and rocks to kill them, or break them into smaller pieces before swallowing.

It is not at all uncommon.

But even Hewin Hochkins, head mammal keeper at the Australian Reptile Park, was amused by the size of the snake this particular kookaburra had attempted to ingest.

A kookaburra dines out on a snake at least double its size. Picture: Kirk Morton

In the photo you can see part of the reptile dangling from its open beak.

“It looked like it had tackled something way too big for it to handle,” Mr Hochkins laughed. “I don’t think that kookaburra would have got that snake down.”

Kookaburras usually go for much smaller snakes. Picture: Sonja Ross / ABC

He explained to news.com.au the birds eat a wide variety of snakes in their diet and they impressively have some resistance to the venom in venomous snakes.

“But eating a venomous snake and getting bitten by a venomous snake are two totally different things,” he said.

It means kookaburras have to be clever when turning a snake into their next meal.

Mr Hochkins said they will go for the snake’s head first to kill it or contain it, which is why this kookaburra was swallowing the snake headfirst.

“They definitely know what they’re dealing with in terms of the dangers of eating snakes,” he said.