Each week, Atlas Obscura is providing a new short excerpt from our upcoming book, Wild Life: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Living Wonders (September 17, 2024). Over the mountains near the western Iranian desert, a peckish migrating lark spots a welcome sight: a big, juicy spider, out in the open like a pie on a windowsill. The lark descends upon the naive arachnid, little claws outstretched. And then: WHAP. The meal-seeker has become the meal, trapped in the jaws of an enormous snake. The lark’s would-be snack was not…
