On May 14, 2013, researcher Dragan Arsovski turned over a rock on Golem Grad, an island in Lake Prespa, Macedonia, and was stunned.
Beneath it was a dead young horned viper, with the head of a centipede protruding from its open abdomen. The numbers make the scene even stranger: the snake measured 20,3 centimeters and weighed 4,2 grams; the centipede measured 15,4 centimeters and weighed 4,8 grams. The prey weighed more than its hunter.
During the dissection, the scientists noticed that the viper’s organs were missing: the centipede occupied the entire volume of its body. Their hypothesis is that the snake swallowed it alive and that it made its way through from the inside. No one saw it happen, and they themselves say they cannot confirm it. Herpetologist Ljiljana Tomović summed it up this way: everyone was amazed, and no one had ever seen anything like it. Both animals died.