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Who's the predator? Who's the prey?

The predator is the crane and prey is the snake! But what would make it difficult to eat a snake? Here's more:

"Whooping cranes absolutely love to eat snakes," says biologist Tom Stehn. "They get very excited when they catch a snake and sometimes fight over who will get to eat it.

"I have seen a whooping crane eat a snake that was as long as the Whooping crane is tall — which is nearly 5 feet! The snake is perfect prey, since it is very nutritious. Also, it is a good fit since the whooping crane has a long neck and it can swallow the snake whole.

"I sometimes worry that a whooping crane might get bit when it tries to eat a poisonous snake, such as a rattlesnake or water mocassin. We think the crane we call Scarbaby may have been bit by a snake when it was at Aransas; the bite made Scarbaby so sick that the young crane missed its migration and stayed at Aransas all summer. But normally, whooping cranes can move their bill so fast that the snake doesn't have a chance!"

By Tom Stehn, USFWS Wildlife Biologist
Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

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