Here are two black mambas—the world’s most dangerous snake—fighting each other for the right to mate with a female black mamba. They’re engaging in a form of plaiting combat where they twist their bodies in a braid in hopes of making the other black mamba submit. It’s basically a never ending shove match that goes on until someone gives up.
National Geographic talked to Kenneth Krysko from the Florida Museum of Natural History, who said that the snakes aren’t actually trying to kill each other (they’ll occasionally bite each other in these fights but won’t inject venom). Instead, they’re just battling it out against one another to see who gets to mate with the female.
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