Researchers have released a photo of a dead nose horned viper with a centipede's head sticking out of its abdomen.
After conducting countless hours of research, scientists believe that it is quite possible that the centipede eviscerate the snake "from the inside out," according to LiveScience.com.
"All of us were astonished, as nobody has ever seen something like this," Ljiljana Tomović, a herpetologist at the University of Belgrade, according to LiveScience.com.
On May 14, 2013, Tomović and colleagues were tagging reptiles on Macedonia's Golem Grad, a 44-acre (18 hectares) island in Lake Prespa when the snake was discovered after a researcher turned over a stone.
The nose-horned viper was a female that could stretch approximately 2-inches longer than the centipede, which was 6 inches long, according to a report published in the journal Ecologica Montenegrina.
The centipede was heavier than the snake however, weighing in at 4.8 grams, compared to 4.2 grams, according to the journal post.
Nose-horned vipers usually take on small mammals, birds, and lizards, and have been known to eat centipedes. In this case however, it's clear the snake "underestimated" the size of its prey.
The snake was dissected by the researchers which revealed its visceral organs were missing, meaning the entire volume of its body was "occupied by the centipede," according to the study.
Researchers believe it is possible the centipede tried digging or gnawing its way out of the snake, destroying its internal organs in the process, before eventually dying.
"In general, this invertebrate is extremely tough: It is very hard to kill a full-grown Scolopendra (personal observation)," the authors said in the study. "Therefore, we cannot dismiss the possibility that the snake had swallowed the centipede alive, and that, paradoxically, the prey has eaten its way through the snake, almost reaching its freedom."
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