African Rock Python

The African rock python, reaching 20 feet and 200 pounds, is the continent's largest snake and shares the crocodile's strategic philosophy: invest in a single devastating attack rather than sustained pursuit. Both predators wait motionlessly for prey to approach, then strike with overwhelming force. But where crocodiles use 3,700 PSI of bite force, pythons deploy constriction—coiling around prey and tightening until blood flow stops. The end result is identical: large prey captured through patient ambush.

This convergent strategy evolution is remarkable because snakes and crocodilians diverged over 300 million years ago. Yet both independently arrived at the same solution: low metabolism enabling long fasts, camouflage enabling concealment, explosive first strikes, and overwhelming mechanical force. The python can survive 18 months between meals—longer than most crocodiles—because its cold-blooded metabolism and infrequent movement minimize energy expenditure.

The business parallel concerns how different industries converge on similar strategies when facing similar constraints. Ambush predators and private equity firms share the same approach: patient waiting, careful target selection, rapid decisive action, and long digestion periods before the next opportunity. Firms like Berkshire Hathaway explicitly describe their approach as waiting for 'fat pitches'—doing nothing until an unmissable opportunity appears, then committing overwhelming capital.

The python's occasional predation on young crocodiles (and the crocodile's predation on young pythons) illustrates how competitors using similar strategies still compete at the margins. Even when companies share strategic approaches, they may directly compete for the same opportunities. Private equity firms pursuing the same acquisition target mirror pythons and crocodiles encountering each other at the waterhole—similar strategies don't prevent direct competition.