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Redback Spider Attacks and Kills Deadly Snake

In a fight to the death, does speed or size prevail? Whatever your answer, the question is rendered moot when one of the combatants has eight legs, powerful venom and the ability to spin webs.

A video recorded on February 15 by Brenton Maher, who works at North Vic Engines Cobram in north Victoria, shows an epic battle between a redback spider and a brown snake, with the latter the unfortunate loser. There was some controversy over whether the workers had baited the snake by embedding a hook into it. New footage obtained by Storyful shows no evidence of that, and is consistent with other spider-snake interactions.

Reporting on the incident, National Geographic explained that the redback was likely “very lucky” and the snake’s young age was a major factor in its demise. After paralysing it, the spider would have injected the snake with digestive enzymes to leave it as a “protein shake of sorts” which she would eat with her “sucking stomach”.

Suffice it to say, Australia is a country where not even one of the world’s most toxic snakes are safe from one of the deadliest spiders. Credit: Brenton Maher via Storyful