The clip shows the two snakes facing off in the middle of the Mojave desert, California, hissing furiously at each other.

After a tense few moments, the kingsnake pounces and swallows the head of its rival in a lightning-fast strike, reports the Daily Star.

The rattlesnake furiously writhes around attempting to free itself – but its efforts are in vain.

Within another couple of minutes, all that is left of the stricken reptile is its iconic rattling tail, left poking out of the predators mouth.

Thousands have seen the footage since it was uploaded to YouTube, leaving viewers astounded at the brutality of the animal kingdom.

‘It only took that king snake a little over two minutes to down that rattler,’ said one viewer.

‘What’s even crazier is that rattler won’t actually die for maybe another hour or more.’

Another wrote: ‘Nature is intriguing, there is a counterbalance for everything.’

‘It’s amazing, he doesn’t even wait for the other one to die, just gobbled him up,’ added a third.

‘Thanks for sharing, I learned a lot here!’

Earlier this year, jaw-dropping footage captured the moment a giant python appeared to swallow a whole deer in just 10 seconds – but nothing everything was as it appeared on camera.