Python Bursts After Trying to Eat Gator

NinjaPoodle · #1 10-06-2005, 11:51 AM

Wasn't sure if I should put this in News or Entertainment
--NP

Click the link to see the picture*******************
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051005/...t/gator_python
By DENISE KALETTE, Associated Press Writer
Wed Oct 5, 4:04 PM ET

MIAMI - The alligator has some foreign competition at the top of the Everglades food chain, and the results of the struggle are horror-movie messy.

A 13-foot Burmese python recently burst after it apparently tried to swallow a live, six-foot alligator whole, authorities said.

The incident has heightened biologists' fears that the nonnative snakes could threaten a host of other animal species in the Everglades.

"It means nothing in the Everglades is safe from pythons, a top-down predator," said Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida wildlife professor.

Over the years, many pythons have been abandoned in the Everglades by pet owners.

The gory evidence of the latest gator-python encounter — the fourth documented in the past three years — was discovered and photographed last week by a helicopter pilot and wildlife researcher.

The snake was found with the gator's hindquarters protruding from its midsection. Mazzotti said the alligator may have clawed at the python's stomach as the snake tried to digest it.

In previous incidents, the alligator won or the battle was an apparent draw.

"There had been some hope that alligators can control Burmese pythons," Mazzotti said. "This indicates to me it's going to be an even draw. Sometimes alligators are going to win and sometimes the python will win."

It is unknown how many pythons are competing with the thousands of alligators in the Everglades, but at least 150 have been captured in the past two years, said Joe Wasilewski, a wildlife biologist and crocodile tracker.

Pythons could threaten many smaller species that conservationists are trying to protect, including other reptiles, otters, squirrels, woodstorks and sparrows, Mazzotti said.

Wasilewski said a 10- or 20-foot python also could pose a risk to an unwary human, especially a child. He added, however, "I don't think this is an imminent threat. This is not a `Be afraid, be very afraid' situation.'"

Lindz928 · #2 10-06-2005, 11:57 AM

And it's true!

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/snakegator.asp

That is just crazy looking.

NinjaPoodle · #3 10-06-2005, 12:29 PM

yuck

Lindz928 · #4 10-06-2005, 12:32 PM

Haha. Yeah, and it's not really all that gross until you realize WHAT exactly it is.

preciousjeni · #5 10-06-2005, 12:53 PM

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

aabby757 · #6 10-06-2005, 03:49 PM

Honestly, I don't know what I am looking at.

I see the body of the alligator and I see the tail of the snake but the middle part I can't really see what is what.

It's not a gross to me yet since I don't really see all the parts of the animals. Where does the alligator end and the snake begin?

preciousjeni · #7 10-06-2005, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by aabby757
Honestly, I don't know what I am looking at.

I see the body of the alligator and I see the tail of the snake but the middle part I can't really see what is what.

It's not a gross to me yet since I don't really see all the parts of the animals. Where does the alligator end and the snake begin?

Look at the center of the picture. The two long things (one going up to the left and one going up to the right, into the water) are the snake. The thing that is coming out of the snake, down to the right, is the tail of the gator and you can see it's legs as well - it is belly-up in the picture. The thing it's pouring out of is the belly of the snake.

Also, up to the left is the tail end of the snake and the part that's in the water is the head. The alligator's head is pointing toward the tail, so the snake must have eaten it head first (which is really weird and makes me agree with those who think the gator was already dead.)

NinjaPoodle · #8 10-06-2005, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by aabby757
It's not a gross to me yet since I don't really see all the parts of the animals. Where does the alligator end and the snake begin?

lol

NinjaPoodle · #9 10-06-2005, 04:46 PM

In this photo provided by the Everglades National Park, the carcass of a six-foot American alligator is shown protruding from the mid-section of a 13-foot Burmese python Monday, Sept. 26, 2005 in Everglades National Park, Fla., after the snake apparently swallowed the alligator resulting in the deaths of both animals. (AP Photo/Everglades National Park)

txdiva · #10 10-06-2005, 07:55 PM

OMG!!! That's gross!

honeychile · #11 10-06-2005, 08:39 PM

FWIW, my brother & his wife has a small horse farm. Their "cash crop" used to be reptiles (blech), and Burmese pythons are VERY expensive! Especially the albino one, like Britney Spears slithered with.

sageofages · #12 10-06-2005, 10:16 PM

Kinda gives new meaning to the phrase

"having your eyes bigger than your stomach"

EWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Put this on the fridge next time you feel like overeating!

carnation · #13 10-06-2005, 11:09 PM

I can't believe that people release their snakes down there. Or anywhere else either--my husband found a red-tail boa in the woods at the end of the road.

cashmoney · #14 10-07-2005, 10:41 AM

Burmese pythons are like $60 a piece when babies. Not much at all. They have been released for a while in the everglades by their former pet owners. The Alligator has been in competetion for top dawg of the food chain for a number of years.

AnchorAlum · #15 10-08-2005, 11:42 PM

Hey, c'mon.

You all know you WANT to move to Florida. Think of all the cool things you get to see just down the road. Or at the end of your driveway!

I grew up here, when mosquitoes outnumbered people. Now, that does make me really old, but it also makes me just shake my head at this kind of stuff. PYTHONS?!

Pretty cool, actually.