Video: Brown snakes fight for female attention in McLaren Vale

ONE angry brown snake is enough to give you shivers — so this video of two males engaged in a fight is likely to make your stomach churn. See the amazing video shot south of Adelaide.

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ONE angry brown snake is enough to give you shivers — so this video is likely to make your stomach churn.

These two male brown snakes were spotted fighting in McLaren Vale late last week.

In the video, uploaded by Instagram user bubblenuts, the snakes can be seen rapidly twisting and flipping to overpower one another.

Dr Mark Hutchinson, Head of Research & Collections and Senior Researcher, Herpetology, at the South Australian Museum confirmed the snakes in the footage were fighting.

“The repeated plaiting together and squeezing one another (which makes breathing difficult) followed by throwing themselves apart and then (after taking a few breaths) coiling again, is a pattern of behaviour seen in the males of most Australian snake species,” Dr Hutchinson said.

While it was “unusual” for male snakes to be seen fighting in autumn, rather than their normal spring mating season, the footage was proof “combat can occur at any time of the year if males encounter one another or that brown snakes start to think about mating in autumn, or (at least) that hormone levels might be rising at this time,” he said.

This type of behaviour can involve a fight for mating rights with a nearby female. Now that’s one love triangle we want to stay well away from.

Originally published as Video: Brown snakes fight for female attention in McLaren Vale