Combat behavior is common in snakes, but what scientists find odd is witnessing two snakes from different species wrestling each other.

Dawn Kelly of Searcy County recorded a video of two snakes fighting and sent it to David Steen, a wildlife ecologist from Auburn University. The snakes were identified to be two different species, one a Cottonmouth and the other a Copperhead. While Kelly thought that the snakes' behavior was unusual because of the way they wrestled, Steen said: "I knew immediately that I was looking at something that was going to blow everybody's minds."

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According to Steen, it is unusual for a Cottonmouth and a Copperhead to engage in combat because they belong to different species. This led to questions about whether the fight could have involved a female snake, and was somehow related to the mating. However, the video did not capture a female snake nearby. National Geographic also reported that each species is known to perform ritualized wrestling matches around this time of the year as they compete for female mates.

While Steen said that he only recalled of hearing about a wild Cottonmouth and Copperhead hybrid, it is possible since breeders have been known to artificially hybridize the two species. While it is biologically possible for these two species to produce an offspring, the type of hybrid is extremely rare.

Meanwhile, Steen said that he wants to work with Kelly to publish her observations in a scientific journal. He believes that people contribute a lot when they report their observations, which also serves as a reminder that a biologist alone cannot see everything that is worth seeing.

Watch the Cottonmouth and Copperhead combat in the video below: