Cottonmouth vs. Copperhead: Watch First Mating Duel Seen in the Wild

Surprising video shows venomous vipers fighting over a female, raising questions about mating between the two species.

Most people would run if they happened across a pair of yard-long vipers twisting and thrashing in the weeds. But Dawn Kelly of Searcy County, Arkansas, reached for her phone.

“I've grown up on a farm and am fascinated by all animals, and in 50-some years of being outdoors I had never seen two snakes interacting like that,” says Kelly, a confectioner and hobby farmer.

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