This is the gruesome moment a monitor lizard grapples with a python - with the reptile coming out on top after a 40 minute battle.

Student Nichakarn Chitchaw was walking around her university campus with friends when they noticed the two warring reptiles in Nakhon Pathom, central Thailand.

Footage from last Thursday (19/12) morning shows the monitor lizard using its powerful teeth to tear through the python's scales.

The snake replied by coiling round the lizard's head in a desperate attempt to use it's suffocation manoeuvre, normally so effective with other victims, including humans.

But the 5ft long monitor lizard emerged the winner, with the python becoming weaker with each bite into its body.

Nichakarn said the snake tried to slither away but each time the lizard dragged it back and finally killed it after the 40 minute long duel.

She said: "The snake could not withstand the power of the monitor lizard's bare mouth and died eventually. I am curious about how can a monitor lizard can overpower a python, but it did.''

The monitor lizard, a common predator throughout southeast Asia, dragged the dead python into the bushes to feast on the snake meat for its lunch.