The karst caves of north-western Puerto Rico in the Caribbean are home to a surprisingly large array of animals.
Some of these creatures are small. Cockroaches and other bugs scuttle from nook to cranny, while freshwater crabs and crayfish hide in the cold, dark pools.
Then there are bats, thousands of them, with species such as the Antillean ghost-faced bat and sooty moustached bat using the network of caverns as a place to roost and raise young.
These dank tunnels may seem like a safe refuge for the flying mammals, but a silent predator is lurking in the shadows. To be more accurate, it's hanging in the shadows. Meet the Puerto Rican boa.
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Measuring approximately 1–2m in length, this non-venomous snake has devised a special hunting trick. Using the end of its tail, it hooks onto a crack in the cave ceiling, lowers the rest of its body into the air, then waits.
The boa's diet includes various animals, such as lizards, birds and rodents. But it has also developed a taste for the unsuspecting bats.
In this amazing footage, several Puerto Rican boas can be seen hanging from the entrance of a cave. At one point, a boa attempts to snatch a bat straight out of the air. Once the prey is in its grasp, this skilful snake wraps its body around its victim, eventually constricting it to death.
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