The biologist typically stops and looks at every amphibian he sees, but as he moved his headlamp toward this one, he noticed something odd.

“All of a sudden, I was like, What is that hanging out of its mouth?” says Bogan, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona. (See a picture of a toad eating a bat.)

Black, sticklike appendages protruded from the toad’s face—an animal was still alive, wiggling inside. He realized the toad was attempting to gulp down a live western desert tarantula.

Bogan leaned down and took some pictures of the toad, waiting for the unlucky arachnid to meet its fate. But the tarantula wasn’t ready to go peacefully into the night.

As the spider struggled, Bogan witnessed