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Timberghozt
Board Founder
| Joined: | 11 February 2005 |
| Location: | Plaza De Los Armas, Mexico |
| Posts: | 5285 |
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Posted: 11 December 2007 03:42 PM |
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Anyone ever seen this story or know if it was snoped?
Is it possible??
Snake bursts after gobbling gator   The predators died in the clash 
[url=javascript: void window.open('http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/05/americas_enl_1128575604/html/1.stm', '1128575688', 'toolbar=0,scrollbars=0,location=0,statusbar=0,menubar=0,resizable=1,width=600,height=478,left=312,top=100');] Enlarge Image[/url] 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 were found with the victim's tail protruding from its burst midsection. 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.
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"He who fights with monsters might take care, lest he thereby become a monster; For if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - F.Nietzche
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Mark V
Administrator
| Joined: | 12 February 2007 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 243 |
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Posted: 11 December 2007 04:11 PM |
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http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/snakegator.asp
Doesn't appear there is anything BS about the story or the picture. The only real question is what happened after the snake attempted to eat the gator and died. They give several plausible theories for what happended.
It's well documented fact that a lot of a-holes with more money than sense buy these damn pythons as pets and then don't know what to do with them once they get to big to keep and end up dumping them in the glades. I fished with a guy out of Titusville a few years ago that was telling about this and that hunters and fisherman try to kill these things on site if they get the chance.
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wheezengeezer
addicted handloader
| Joined: | 16 July 2007 |
| Location: | Jeddediah Jones Swamp, Kansas USA |
| Posts: | 606 |
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Posted: 11 December 2007 04:14 PM |
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| i have seen this some time back,truly amazing. a 6 foot alligator and a 13 foot python are probbally not the biggest by a long shot.i have heard that released pet snakes in florida have become a problem.just a matter of time it will be a human,not an alligator
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I was raised in the 50's on gunpowder and jackrabbits.salt and pepper wooda made'em taste better
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Mark V
Administrator
| Joined: | 12 February 2007 |
| Location: | USA |
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Posted: 11 December 2007 04:33 PM |
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| Yeah, well, you introduce a top tier exotic predator to ecosystem and you are going to throw things out of whack.
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The_Mountaineer
Administrator
| Joined: | 4 February 2005 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 715 |
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Posted: 11 December 2007 08:31 PM |
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| A staff fisheries biologist once showed me an article where pythons have been released into the FL wilds by enough people tired of them as pets that there is a resident breeding population of them now. I say eradicate all of the exotic pythons there.
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Montani Semper Liber - Mountaineers are always free
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Charley
Administrator
| Joined: | 9 September 2005 |
| Location: | San Antonio, Texas USA |
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Posted: 11 December 2007 10:24 PM |
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The_Mountaineer wrote: A staff fisheries biologist once showed me an article where pythons have been released into the FL wilds by enough people tired of them as pets that there is a resident breeding population of them now. I say eradicate all of the exotic pythons there.
I've seen a couple of articles about exotic snakes, mostly pythons, in the Everglades. Seems most biologists who've dealt with the Everglades agree there is a breeding population.
Introducing exotic species into an uncontrolled environment is one of the stupider things people do. Walking catfish, European starlings, red imported fire ants, argentine ants, English sparrows...the list goes on and on. Almost every one of those introduced species is a huge PITA for somebody!
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"You all can go to Hell, I'm going to Texas" David Crockett (and probably George Bush)
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wheezengeezer
addicted handloader
| Joined: | 16 July 2007 |
| Location: | Jeddediah Jones Swamp, Kansas USA |
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Posted: 11 December 2007 11:46 PM |
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| the tree huggers might want to "save" them from extinction
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I was raised in the 50's on gunpowder and jackrabbits.salt and pepper wooda made'em taste better
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72coupe
Handloading Master
| Joined: | 11 June 2006 |
| Location: | Iowa Park, Texas USA |
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Posted: 12 December 2007 12:46 AM |
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There was a 1 hour show about this incident on the National Geographic channel a few days back. They did an autopsy on the snake and the gator.
Seems the gator had a debilitating injury and the snake took advantage of it. While the snake was swallowing the gator another gator shows up and takes a big bite out of the snake exposing the dead gator.
It was all pretty gross.
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Reloader since 1969.
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