The elegant bird that stomps venomous snakes to death
This elegant bird hunts by stomping venomous snakes to death — with the force of a hammer.
Which one is REALLY true about the Secretary Bird?
The short version
The secretary bird is a bird of prey that hunts on foot, killing lizards, rodents, and venomous snakes with rapid kicks. Each stomp lands with about five times its body weight and strikes in roughly 15 milliseconds, faster than a snake can bite back.
Why it's so weird
- ✓The Secretary Bird kills snakes by stomping them with kicks that land in about 15 milliseconds, faster than a snake can bite back.
- ✓The Secretary Bird delivers each stomp with around five times its own body weight.
- ✓The Secretary Bird hunts on foot across the grasslands instead of striking from the air, even though it is a true bird of .
- ✓The Secretary Bird stalks on tall, stilt-like legs that keep its body safely out of a snake's striking range.
- ✓The Secretary Bird aims its strikes straight for the head to kill instantly.
The Secretary Bird is about 1.6× as long as a 7-year-old! 🤯
The full story
This elegant, long-legged bird hunts by stomping its prey to death. Meet the secretary bird, a bird of prey that decided to fight on foot instead of from the air. It stalks across the African grasslands on tall, stilt-like legs, hunting lizards, rodents, and especially venomous snakes. When it finds one, it attacks with a blur of rapid kicks. Each stomp lands with around five times its own body weight, and the strike is so fast it is over in a fraction of a second, far quicker than the snake can bite back. It usually aims straight for the head to kill its prey instantly. Those long legs are not only weapons, they also keep its body safely out of striking range. A graceful, beautiful bird that is secretly one of nature's deadliest martial artists. Follow for more weird animal facts.
A secretary bird's leg works like a fast spring. It swings its foot down so quickly that the whole stomp is over in about 15 thousandths of a second. That is much faster than a snake can react, so the snake gets hit before it can bite back. The kick is too fast for the bird to steer in mid-air, so it has to aim carefully with its sharp eyes first, then drive its foot straight onto the snake's head. Its long, stilt-like legs let it deliver a huge force (about 5 times its own body weight) while keeping its body up high and out of the snake's striking range.
📚 Source: The fast and forceful kicking strike of the secretary bird (Portugal et al., Current Biology, 2016) ↗Scientists filmed a trained secretary bird named Madeleine striking a rubber snake placed on a force plate, with the camera and the force sensor both recording 500 times per second, which let them measure that each kick lasted about 15 milliseconds and hit with around 195 newtons, roughly 5 times the bird's body weight.
📚 Source: Study: Secretary Birds Stamp on Their Prey with Force 5 Times Their Weight (Sci-News) ↗Watch the 45-second version
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“The Secretary Bird kills venomous snakes by stomping them with kicks that land in about 15 milliseconds, faster than a snake can bite back.”
“The Secretary Bird stands frozen like a statue for hours, then strikes in a flash.”
“The Secretary Bird delivers each stomp with around five times its own body weight.”