This life-or-death struggle between a snake and a hawk was caught on camera in the state of Minas Gerais in southeastern Brazil. A group of hikers found the pair after the hungry bird had descended on its slithering prey.

In a move to stay alive, the snake did just about the only thing possible: it wrapped itself tightly around its opponent.

As you can see, the hikers decided to intervene (please don't do this) and poked the snake with a stick until it slithered off. 

This isn't the first time we've seen a tangled encounter like this one. You might remember this clip from last year of a bull snake entwined around a red-tailed hawk:

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Top header image: Andrés Ciceri, Flickr