Snake bursts after gobbling gator

[alexr]

An unusual clash between a 6-foot (1.8m) alligator and a 13-foot (3.9m) python has left two of the deadliest predators dead in Florida's swamps.
The Burmese python tried to swallow its fearsome rival whole but then exploded.

The remains of the two giant reptiles were found by astonished rangers in the Everglades National Park.

The rangers say the find suggests that non-native Burmese pythons might even challenge alligators' leading position in the food chain in the swamps.

Clearly, if they can kill an alligator they can kill other species

Prof Frank Mazzotti

The python's remains with the victim's tail protruding from its burst midsection were found last week. The head of the python was missing.

"Encounters like that are almost never seen in the wild... And here we are," Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida wildlife professor, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.

"They were probably evenly matched in size. If the python got a good grip on the alligator before the alligator got a good grip on him, he could win," Professor Mazzotti said.

He said the alligator may have clawed at the python's stomach, leading it to burst.

He said that there had been four known encounters between the two species in the past. In the other cases, the alligator won or the battle was an apparent draw.

Burmese pythons - many of whom have been dumped by their owners - have thrived in the wet and hot climate of Florida's swamps over the past 20 years.

 

[Guest]

He said the alligator may have clawed at the python's stomach, leading it to burst.

Wouldnt the Alligator have been dead once swallowed?? I thought thats how it worked??? Python constricts till prey is dead, then prey is eaten whole??? Unless the gators heart rate was just slowed to borderline death then raised and caused panic once in the pythons stomach??

Ahh well, who knows. Cool photo.

 

[herptrader]

amazing!

Mental note to self - don't feed croc's to pet python.

 

[alexr]

Mental note to self - don't feed croc's to pet python.

ha ha.

Wouldnt the Alligator have been dead once swallowed??

Even if the snake made the mistake of eating a live gator - the time it would take for the gator to be swallowed it would have definitely been asphyxiated.

Perhaps the snake died because after eating the *dead* alligator it swelled up as the gasses expanded and that?s what ruptured the snake, or

Or maybe another gator attacked the snake as it swam away to digest its food.

 

[Jonathon]

Or maybe another gator attacked the snake as it swam away to digest its food.

That would make sence as it said the snakes head was missing too. However it happened its a cool photo!

 

[Deano]

What a spin out :shock: :shock: :shock:

 

[foxysnake]

What an awesome pic - unreal!

 

[deathinfire]

thats crazy

 

[AGAMIDAE]

thats incredible

 

[craig.a.c]

Wouldnt the Alligator have been dead once swallowed?? I thought thats how it worked??? Python constricts till prey is dead, then prey is eaten whole??? Unless the gators heart rate was just slowed to borderline death then raised and caused panic once in the pythons stomach??

Ahh well, who knows. Cool photo.

Ever think that maybe, just maybe, there could have been a second allagator in the swamp. And it may have attacked the snake after eating its meal.? :shock:

 

[peterescue]

or maybe, just maybe, the gator had a hand grenade that blew the snakes head off and another that blew its guts open or a little girl with a machette killed it and tried to cut her pet alligater Barney out of the burm or the alligater was eaten as a baby and lived inside the python for years and years till it got to big and burst out .......
would you like me to stop now?

 

[instar]

What a shame, two awesome animals gone. nature can be harsh.

 

[pugsly]

PMSL Pete!

Cool story Alex, amazing really!

 

[OuZo]

would you like me to stop now?

No, keep going

 

[herptrader]

Here is a link to another version of same yarn: http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/10/05/gater.python.ap/index.html

 

[Deano]

Yeah keep going Pete, don?t stop there its getting interesting, lol

 

[alexr]

6 pack of beer?$15
Bus ticket to the everglades?$50
Proving to your mates that even though a Burmese python could swallow a 6ft gator there is no way in hell it would come out the other end?priceless.

There?s some things money can?t buy?for everything else there?s MasterCard.

 

[alexr]

here is the article taken from news http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,16831239-23109,00.html

THE tail of an alligator protruding from the ruptured gut of a python, which had swallowed its foe alive, bore witness to a fierce and unusual battle between two of the deadliest predators in Florida's swamps.

Park rangers, who photographed the remains of the two huge reptiles in the Everglades National Park, said the clash demonstrates the threat to the fragile swamplands posed by a growing population of non-native Burmese pythons.
Pythons, thought to have been abandoned by pet owners, have been multiplying in the large swamp, and environmentalists fear the exotic intruders may overrun the national park, preying on native species.

The latest find suggest the huge pythons might even challenge alligators' leading position in the food chain.

Park biologist Skip Snow described the gruesome scene he found on September 27 in a remote corner of the Everglades park, which he said showed a Burmese python almost four metres long had "apparently" entirely swallowed an alligator about half his size.

"I say apparently because the tail and hind limbs of the dead alligator were protruding from a hole in the mid-body of the dead python," said Mr Snow.


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"Although some bones of the jaw were present, the head of the python was missing," he said in a field report, illustrated with graphic photographs.
The photographs show the hind quarters of the alligator protruding from the snake's mid-section.

"The stomach of the python still surrounded the head, shoulders, and forelimbs of the alligator," said Mr Snow.

"When extracted from the snake, the alligator was largely intact except for two open wounds, one to the top of the skull behind the eyes and one on the shoulder," he said.

It was unclear how the python's gut was ruptured, or how the snake died.

Park officials have removed dozens of Burmese pythons from the Everglades over the past years, and are training a Beagle, nicknamed "Python Pete", to track the exotic invaders.

Note: the last three paragraphs - firstly the wounds on the alligator, the fact that it is unclear why the python ruptured and finally "python pete" - Gotta get me one of those...just hope he can run real fast or his first "find" will end up being more like
"home delievery".

 

[Jason]

thats a cool pictures, but sad to see they both died, i wish the snake lived.

 

[danw]

thats amazing...I thought the snake would have been no match for the croc!!the animal kingdom always has surprises..