Often, the cause was a lack of food, where consuming a kin became a necessity.
A recent study covering more than 500 recorded episodes of cannibalism across over 200 species of snakes has revealed that such behavior is much more widespread than previously thought. Most often, snakes consume their kin due to circumstances such as food shortages or environmental stress factors.
The article, published in the journal Biological Reviews, is the first comprehensive review of cannibalism in snakes. The authors suggest that this behavior has arisen multiple times throughout the evolutionary history of these predatory reptiles. Previously, such cases were only described episodically, but researchers decided to systematize the data and identify possible patterns.
For two years, a group of scientists from Brazil analyzed scientific publications, books, and journal materials, gathering evidence of snakes eating each other. All recorded episodes were categorized—such as between mating partners, rivals, or individuals from the same family. The analysis showed that cannibalism could have independently arisen at least 11 times in the evolutionary history of snakes. In some cases, the cause was a lack of food, where consuming a kin became a necessity. In others, it occurred in captivity, where limited space and resource scarcity also contributed to such behavior.
The recorded episodes involved a wide variety of snake species. About 19% of cannibalism cases involved elapids—a family that includes cobras and other venomous species. At the same time, blind snakes were found to be the only major group among which such cases were not registered. This is likely explained by their anatomical features: they have not developed a movable, unfused lower jaw that allows for wide mouth opening and swallowing large prey, including other snakes.
The authors emphasize that, despite the scale of the study, it likely reflects only a part of the real picture—many cases of cannibalism may have gone undocumented. Nevertheless, this first systematic analysis of snake behavior provides scientists with a more complete understanding of the habits of these reptiles and the extreme measures they are capable of taking for survival in adverse conditions.
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