MIAMI – Talk about biting off more than you can chew.
A 13-foot Burmese python tried to swallow a 6-foot alligator in Everglades National Park – and exploded.
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Scientists stumbled on the gory remains last week after a helicopter pilot spotted the carcasses. The gator’s tail and hind legs were protruding from the python’s ruptured gut, the two bodies locked together so tightly that it was almost hard to make out which was which.
“If the python got a good grip on the alligator before the alligator got a good grip on him, he could win,” said Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida wildlife professor who is an expert on gators and other reptiles.
Mazzotti thinks that as the gator was being swallowed, it clawed at the python’s stomach, making the snake burst.
This happened in Oct., 2005, but for some unknown reason, they ran the story and photo today. I had never heard of it before. I think the python was a little over-ambitious.
