Heavyweight Clash - 'gater VS the python

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Heavyweight Clash - 'gater VS the python

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.

"Clearly, if they can kill an alligator they can kill other species," Prof Mazzotti said.

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.

 

Just saw a CNN news spot on that. I don't know how much that python could comfortably eat, but the gator seems to me to be a reasonable meal. I wish there was a better picture as the one show in the link and on the news wasn't too clear.

The rangers found this? Why do I picture Minsc, Kivan and Valygar hovering around the scene? Too much BG.

 

Let this be a lesson to us all boys and girls...chew before you swallow.

 

Hunh. Now do you think the python 1) died by bursting, or 2) died shortly after eating the croc, after which the combined rotting of croc and snake let off enough methane to pop the snake?

 

This is easily the coolest story in the newspaper today by a mile.

 

Bion, the news overhere reported that the snake was eating the gator alive, and naturally it struggled al the way down the snake's throat, doing a lot of damage with his claws to the snake's inside. So in a way he clawed himself out of the snake again, but not in time to survive the little picknick.

 

Ahh, but I'm wondering whether the snake and/or croc were dead before or after the explosion. Perhaps the snake choked the croc till the croc was motionless and started swallowing the croc, at which point the croc started clawing until it suffocated, both mortally wounding the snake and weakening it's, eh, structural integrity. The snake then died, and stopped digesting the dead croc. Both snack and croc began to rot, thus inflating the snake with methane until it's weakened body burst. Comments 1) what kind of sound does an exploding snake make? and 2) that couldn't have smelled very good...

 

Haven't got a clue, but next time you see a giant snake eating an alligator, toss him an alka seltzer, would you ? It would be better for the Florida environment.

Oh...it's probably pretty much the same sound as my granddad makes after a can of baked beans, possibly smells the same too.

 

I thought the lesson here is "never try to eat more than your body wieght at one sitting"

 

@Pac Man - snakes can't chew.

Crocodiles can hold their breaths for around two hours - If an aligator can do the same the two would have been there for a long time!

I don't think that a snake would eat anything live, so my guess is that the aligator was dead in the snakes gut before it exploded.

 

CMIIR, I think pythons constrict their food, effectively crushing their prey's ribs/lungs and cutting off any access to oxygen. If nothing else, the alligator would be non-moving before the snake started chowing down. More than likely, it was a case of eyes are bigger than stomach.

 

Then there's only one option left, the alligator farted one last time, which made the python explode.

 

The gator was most likely alive when the snake started. It would have fought too, and probablyt did massive damage to the snake internal organs, weakening the snake's stomach wall so that it ruptered as the gator went down. The gator probably did die before the snake, however.

Gotta love the Everglades, and hate the idiots that set loose their pet pythons when they got too big. They' re not native to Florida, and are heavily threatening native Florida species. THe Everglades rangers have been trying to exterminate the pythons for quite a while.

Me, I've rather gotten used to gators, but I still eyeball pythons with suspicion...

 

A week ago there was a news of a snake trying to eat a buck. While it managed to kill the buck and swallow it, the bucks antlers soon tore the snake apart from the inside.
I guess some snakes are just too stupid to let a bad meal go.