PYTHON VS. GATOR EVERGLADES GUTBUSTER DEATH MATCH UPDATE

Because this is such an important story, this blog is providing the following high-resolution photograph by Michael Barron, followed by the full report by Skip Snow of the South Florida Natural Resources Center.

PYTHON MOLURUS BIVITTATUS (Burmese python) FEEDING ON ALLIGATOR MISSIPPIENSIS (American Alligator) IN EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK 

FIELD NOTES 

Skip Snow, South Florida Natural Resources Center, Everglades National Park, 40001 State Road 9336, Homestead, Florida 33034, USA 

On the morning of 27 September 2005, with the assistance of Everglades National Park contract helicopter pilot Michael Barron, I examined a dead Burmese python which had apparently swallowed an American alligator. 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. These animals were located in a spike rush marsh within Shark Slough, floating in 75 to 85 cm of water, at UTM 17 R 0518860 2819747 (Lat. Long. 25 29.686 80 48.740), about 3 to 4 miles NNW of Pay-hay-okee Overlook in Everglades National Park. The python was first seen and photographed by Barron, on behalf of the park, at this location on the afternoon of 26 September 2005.

Both python and alligator were badly bloated. The bloating and decomposition of the python was similar to that observed in pythons known to have been dead at least 24-48 hours. I determined the python to be a male, the carcass total length measuring 386 cm, or about 12.5’. The python’s tail length measured 47 cm. Although some bones of the jaw were present, the head of the python was missing.  Based on necropsies of similar sized pythons, head length would perhaps add another 10 to 13 cm (4 to 5 inches) or so. 

As mentioned above, and as the pictures show, the python was found with the hind quarters of a dead American alligator protruding from the snake’s mid-section. The stomach of the python still surrounded the head, shoulders, and forelimbs of the alligator. 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. In both cases dermal bone was missing, suggesting some kind of trauma. The alligator measured 98 cm snout-vent length (SVL), with a total length (TL) of 194 cm, or about 6.4’ 

The alligator’s skin, from the carcass both inside and outside the python, was largely missing, sloughed and decomposing. Large wads of alligator skin were found in what remained of the GI tract anterior to (forward of) the gaping hole in the body of the snake. This suggests to me that the alligator was indeed, at one time, entirely within the snake’s gut. No other identifiable prey items were observed in the lower gut of the python. How the body wall of the python was breached is a matter of speculation, as is the python’s cause of death. 

Comments

[MOTW]

Let me be the first to say DAYUM ... and thanks for the hi-res photo.

[Sean]

Wads Of Alligator WBAGNFARB .....Firsssst.

[Sean]

Sssssecond..

[Christobol]

Slinky: I bet you a dollar you can't eat that alligator.
Slithery: You're on!

*stupid snake bets*

[MOTW]

How the body wall of the python was breached is a matter of speculation, as is the python’s cause of death.

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. In both cases dermal bone was missing, suggesting some kind of trauma.

Skip, I have to ask:
Trauma .. caused by ..? The python?
Can a 12.5 ft. python be quick enough to escape a gator's lashing tail and flashing choppers? Is said python capable of inflicting a bite to remove dermal bone from the tough hide of an alligator? Or was the gator already dead (or on his way out of the building) when the python happened upon him?

[Renee]

EWWWWWWWW!

[Monty]

'E's not pinin'! 'E's passed on! This python is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker! 'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace!

[tropichunt.com guy™]

Key quote: How the body wall of the python was breached is a matter of speculation, as is the python’s cause of death.

Well, duh...he couldn't get to a CVS to by his Prilosec OTC...anyone will tell you that eating that much alligator will bust your gut open...

[Justin Wilson]

Now looky here at dis. We have got the Florida equivalent of a turducken, ain' dat nice? Dis oughta be sometin like a pygatorish, hooo!

[skink]

LUNCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dave (not Barry)]

I kind of felt that way after lunch at that damn mexican place yesterday- I'm not goin' back THERE again *urp*

[randon thunking]

My mom always told me never to eat anything bigger than my head. It looks like we have another case of piss-poor python parenting.

[Guin]

"Snout-vent length" wbagnf...i dunno....something.

[GDogg]

I used to go to a hot dog joint that had a specialty known as the Gut Bomb. A Louisiana hot link, chili, onions, hot peppers, hot salsa, hot mustard. Eat a couple of Gut Bombs after a night's drinking, and the chances were good you'd end up feeling like that python.

[crossgirl]

here's the answer for those californians obsessed with catching their alligator. just bring in some giant pythons, problem solved.

[Reddsuss]

I find this whole story hard to swallow.

[Mr. Completely]

Adds rimshot for Reddsuss.... *ba-DA-BUM*

[sthnbelle]

I'm finding my lunch rather hard to swallow after the new improved hi-res picture.

[Sean]

I'll rent the Burt Reynolds movie "Gator" in honor of this post..

[Brainy Jello]

The cause of death was in the article:

"...a dead alligator gives a remarkably good imitation of being alive. One of the things they do is they move their legs like they're walking. Those claws are pretty sharp. It could tear through the [snake's] skin."

Then some little gator came along and took a bite of the dead python's head, which cbagnfarb.

[Rusty1]

Speaking of such stuff -----

ALERT ALERT ALERT

Check out drudgereport.com for the latest from that previously preggers Mz Spears and her need to tell everyone about her home video that she doesn't want anyone to see.

ALERT ALERT ALERT

[Angie]

And we're putting down the sandwich we were eating....

[Squidgy]

All right, this is completely off topic, but, Dave do you still follow developments in the area of hideous lyrics? Because I heard a Black Eyed Peas song yesterday that was so bad I almost had an aneurysm:

Black Eyed Peas
My Humps

What you gon’ do with all that junk?
All that junk inside your trunk?
I’ma get, get, get, get, you drunk,
Get you love drunk off my hump.
My hump, my hump, my hump, my hump, my hump,
My hump, my hump, my hump, my lovely little lumps. (Check it out)

I drive these brothers crazy,
I do it on the daily,
They treat me really nicely,
They buy me all these ice-ys.
Dolce & Gabbana,
Fendi and then Donna
Karan, they be sharin’
All their money got me wearin’
Fly gearrr but I ain’t askin,
They say they love my ass ‘n,
Se7en Jeans, True Religion,
I say no, but they keep givin’
So I keep on takin’
And no I ain’t taken
We can keep on datin’
I keep on demonstrating.

My love, my love, my love, my love
You love my lady lumps,
My hump, my hump, my hump,
My humps they got u,
She’s got me spending.
(Oh) Spendin’ all your money on me and spending time on me.
She’s got me spendin’.
(Oh) Spendin’ all your money on me, on me, on me

What you gon’ do with all that junk?
All that junk inside that trunk?
I’ma get, get, get, get, you drunk,
Get you love drunk off my hump.
What u gon’ do with all that ass?
All that ass inside them jeans?
I’m a make, make, make, make you scream
Make u scream, make you scream.
Cos of my hump, my hump, my hump, my hump.
My hump, my hump, my hump, my lovely lady lumps. (Check it out)

I met a girl down at the disco.
She said hey, hey, hey yea let’s go.
I could be your baby, you can be my honey
Lets spend time not money.
I mix your milk wit my cocoa puff,
Milky, milky cocoa,
Mix your milk with my cocoa puff, milky, milky riiiiiiight.

They say I’m really sexy,
The boys they wanna sex me.
They always standing next to me,
Always dancing next to me,
Tryin’ a feel my hump, hump.
Lookin’ at my lump, lump.
U can look but you can’t touch it,
If u touch it I’ma start some drama,
You don’t want no drama,
No, no drama, no, no, no, no drama
So don’t pull on my hand boy,
You ain’t my man, boy,
I’m just tryn’a dance boy,
And move my hump.

My hump, my hump, my hump, my hump,
My hump, my hump, my hump, my hump, my hump, my hump.
My lovely lady lumps x3
In the back and in the front.
My lovin’ got u,
She’s got me spendin’.
(Oh) Spendin’ all your money on me and spending time on me.
She’s got me spendin’.
(Oh) Spendin’ all your money on me, on me, on me.

What you gon’ do with all that junk?
All that junk inside that trunk?
I’ma get, get, get, get you drunk,
Get you love drunk off my hump.
What you gon’ do with all that ass?
All that ass inside them jeans?
I’ma make, make, make, make you scream
Make you scream, make you scream.
What you gon do with all that junk?
All that junk inside that trunk?
I’ma get, get, get, get you drunk,
Get you love drunk off this hump.
What you gon’ do wit all that breast?
All that breast inside that shirt?
I’ma make, make, make, make you work
Make you work, work, make you work.
She’s got me spendin’.
Spendin all your money on me and spendin’ time on me
She’s got me spendin’.
Spendin’ all your money on me, on me, on me.

[louis gehrig]

Well.

That was awful.

[slyeyes]

Apparently, his eyes were bigger than his stomach.

[Cody]

Sure it's awful, but

U can look but you can’t touch it,
If u touch it I’ma start some drama,
You don’t want no drama,
No, no drama, no, no, no, no drama

I laugh every time!

For a period of about 3 weeks, my newborn would fall asleep every time this song came on. Just like that, magical. It wasn't every song... just this one. He's over that now, but it was nice while it lasted.

Oh so, is it... only offensive novelty rap? Or maybe just, you know, rap in general? 'Cause mommy can rap... ~Rachel on Friends

[KonaChar]

About the Black Eyed Peas lyrics ... definitely hideous...was there actual music to go with that??

As for the Gator v. Python match ... oh wow. Life (and death) in the animal kingdom .. eat or be eaten, or ...

[James Trofe]

Of course, there's always the possibility that the python didn't actually eat it, and that this was just another case of some kind of debris flying through something due to a hurricane.

The snake lost its head in an unrelated matter.

[Guin]

That song is banned in my hearing. My 12-yr-old daughter loves it. I came close to driving into a telephone pole because I was trying to change the radio station so quickly.

[U.O]

Note: following post is copy of my comments on original thread, too lazy to try retyping it ... Also, provides another chance to correct misteaks ...

Speaking as a professional photographer ... I'm a little disappointed in the photo ... pretty hard to make heads or tails out of this picture ...

As to the story:

Skip Snow? Skip Snow! Skip Snow?!?! SKIP SNOW!!!???

We coulda used this story being posted 24 hours earlier, Dave ... we woke up this a.m. with about 4-6" of the heavy, wet stuff all over town ...

With the leaves still on most of the trees, the gathered weight was too much, and many trees were broken off ...

Power went out about 10 a.m. (MDT) and we all hadda leave work ... even the grocery store was closed ... got home and couldn't blog ... every time the power returned for a few minutes, I'd get the 'net on, and it'd shut down again ...

Boy, I'll tell ya, we sure were snowed under ... made us feel like a bunch of dwarfs ...

Skip Snow? That gets my vote ...

[JustLinda]

Ewwwwwwwwwwww...

(and there isn't much that leaves me speechless like that)

[flyawaynet]

FINALLY there's a solution to the L.A. Laker Gator Reggie!
All those high tech gator wranglers out there and all they really needed was to throw some pythons in the lake. They get a free meal, and we get the job done free. Everybody's happy.

[annie]

James T.: yes, from my unfortunate personal experiance with Katrina, hurricane foce winds could indeed blow an alligator into a python ! Yuck!

[Poop Dogg]

So Annie, what will it take to blow Bill Clinton int

[kibby F5™]

Love the mix of cm's and miles. Where's the degrees Centegrade when you need them!?

[James Trofe]

Right here: *Insert witty remark about degrees Centegrade*

[Jessica R.]

mmmmmmmmmmm, alligator, it's what's for dinner.

[bryan]

gnarley!!
www.bryanstupar.blogspot.com

[gfunksizzle]

"How the body wall of the python was breached is a matter of speculation, as is the python’s cause of death."

Methinks if they find how the body wall of the python was breached, that might have something to do with the cause of death. Just throwing that out there. As a suggestion to the professionals.

[Dale]

WAKE UP AMERICA! Look at the bodies! Look at them closely. They form an "e", as in the symbol of the currency of the fledgling one world government, the European Union! This is a warning to us of what will happen to this god-fearing land if we don't rise up and stop the tentacles of one world government. It's a sign, I tell you. An alien Asian snake killing and eating a native American alligator, destroying a symbol of the strength of this great land. A sign. Heed the sign, America!

[just sayin']

You know what! I cannot believe that nobody said squat about the fact that there is/was a 13 foot SNAKE in the futher muckin'
Florida Everglades!!!

this is not the flippin' Am*zon!

(i mean, did anyone else picture Anaconda 2?)

Arm yourselves people!

[Tiffany Davenport & Heather McLeod]

What we want to know is first of all can a python eat an alligator.If it can how in the world did it lose it's head or is this all just a hoax.

[Siouxi_Q]

One more wafer thing cookie, please!

[the bartman]

If y'all do down to the Everglades... stay in your car.

[Osi]

This is better than Godzilla vs. Mothra or Alien vs. Predator.

[summer]

Thanks alot! I had a nightmare that I went there at night and heard a bunch of noise. When I got to it all I could see in the dark was a bunch of black snakes swirling in the water, apparently feeding on remains. I ran back, slowly, in the nightmare, knowing that a huge alligator was also there and mad it had to share. It growled and moved toward me. Welcome to my so called life.

[Joel]

I own several Burmese Pythons..the largest almost 17ft..from a petting zoo in northern Michigan. I'm sure the snake ate..and partially digested the gator, since pythons have a digestive system that works about 30,000 times harder than a humans. (Ref UofM gastro-intestinal research on the net if interested.) I'm sure it will all balance out in the Everglades..and now with news of "Python Pete..the python sniffing Beagle"..I'm all for taking bets on how many snakes ole' Pete will sniff out..before becoming a snack! While not the big nasties of recent "movie" lore, big snakes can move suprisingly fast when they want to.

[greenboy]

I can't understand this, because as far as I know the Condas swallow dead prey, so how the alligator ripped the Conda belly???? Well after all I think I don't want to know.

[Mahalia]

probably it was paralyzed while the python tried to swollow it and also maybe the snake had squeezed it you till it was alomost lifeless b4 it tried to swollow it. Something else another Alligator maybe probably eat the head off after it died or even b4 and thats y the alligator was able tofight back..just saing

[Nichole]

ouch!

[so yeah]

there's a special on this coming out august 16th. check your local listings. pete is doing just fine. it appears the gator was in a fight, the python took advantage of a listless gator. then the python's digestive system went hello, there's a gator in your gut and slowed him down, making it listless, then bigger m-f gator comes along and makes short work of listless python, moving away sans meal after ripping the head of the python off and splitting the gut open, spilling out the original gator. that might freak me out too, to see one of my species spill out of the gut of something i'm attacking. ah, to have too many creatures at the top of the food chain.

it's a jungle out there. if you come to the everglades and see any pythons, for the love of pete, please run them over.

and stop letting them go ppl! isn't this ecosystem freakin' fragile enough?

[kat]

snakes on a plain...hyuk hyuk

[randy]

Mr. Snow Recently come to find out that there might be a program that is state subsidized in the control of this situation. Have a group of people that is willing to take on this situation. Contact with you would be appreiciated in knowing what direction to take from here. Waiting to here from you or someone concerned.

[joe]

anacondas do eat caimans so a a large python is capable of eating an alligator. the python probably caught the alligator off guard and successfully killed and ate it. after the python got done it needed to rest because it is weak and vulnerable. another gator came by and attacked the the python tearing into it and probably to its horror was surprised to see what came out! then as the snake was thrashing around it bit the snake's head off and went its way

[j.brown]

Disgusting. Really cool, but disgusting.

[Ash]

Wow, I didn't know that was possible. Also, I cannot tell where the head and the end is. I am guessing that the head is that thing very far away, though...

[Dave B.]

I guess now it is old news, but here is another point of view about Burmese in the Everglades:
http://www.vpi.com/sites/vpi.com/files/On_Burmese_printed-version.pdf

Thanks

[bob]

crap!

[bob]

one big honker shit

[lilysmith10]

i didn't think a python can do that. XD