A monitor lizard was seen devouring a python in Singapore.

The reptile pounced on the snake before tussling with it in a nature reserve on May 3.

Extraordinary footage shows the lizard hungrily gobbling down the massive snake before seemingly giving up and beginning to regurgitate the python.

As it brings it up, the monitor grabs at the snake with its powerful claws and finally pulls it from its mouth.

Onlooker Emma Robertson Chia said: 'The python was covered in flies and quite smelly, so I don't know if the monitor had caught and wrestled it or whether it found it already dead.

'My first reaction was wow this is such a National Geographic moment. I don't think this happens too often. Or at least it is not witnessed very often.

'It was amazing to see it try to chomp the whole snake, which was quite a bit longer than the monitor.'

Emma was baffled at why the monitor lizard's powerful jaws were unable to finish the python.

She said: 'I've seen monitor lizards chomp through fish flesh and bones with no problem, but it seems impossible for it to penetrate the snake's skin.

'What I've since learned is that they do this regurgitating to speed up the decomposition of the snake to make it easier to eat.

'Sure enough, it dragged the snake up into the plants and left it.

'I went to take a look the following morning and saw that it had finally managed to break the skin and was feeding on it.

'Another monitor was close by obviously hoping for a turn. It was finally all gone on Sunday evening.

'Singapore is quite unique in that it's possible to spot amazing wildlife right on our doorsteps or just a few minutes away in nature reserves around our centrally placed reservoirs.

'We have saltwater crocodiles, wild boar, different species of monkeys, 12 species of venomous snakes, pangolins, mousedeer, otters, hornbills …a whole myriad of wildlife.

'There are not too many major cities in the world that can boast the same thing.'