Exploding snake

In October 2005, rangers in the Everglades National Park discovered the carcass of a 6-foot (1.8 meter) alligator protruding from the burst carcass of 13-foot (4 meter) Burmese python. The rangers could not locate the snake's head. Frank Mazzotti, a professor from the University of Florida, suggested that the alligator had tried to claw its way out of the snake while the snake tried to swallow it whole. Alternative hypotheses suggest the alligator could have already been dead, or a third animal was involved. The incident was noted as a sign that alligators' supremacy as a predator is not a certainty in the wild. Mazzotti also noted that a human discovery of such a battle between these predators was rare.

An urban legend website, Snopes, suggests that after ingesting the alligator, the snake was possibly cut open and beheaded by another individual (either a human or another predator). Snopes also proposes that a gas build-up caused by the decomposing alligator could have ruptured the snake's body, and that its head was eaten by scavengers.

The news report highlighted the concern held by wildlife biologists that the Burmese Python might spread across the Southern United States, where it finds a suitable climate, and become prohibitively expensive or wholly impossible to eradicate. This would threaten native ecosystems and vulnerable species. Breeding populations from escaped specimens or specimens released by overwhelmed owners are found already in the Everglades, the Big Cypress and on Key Largo. [1]

See also

• Exploding animal

References

• BBC News (5 October 2005) "Snake bursts after gobbling gator". Accessed 6 October 2005.
• Snopes.com (11 April 2006) "Tale Gator". Accessed 20 December 2006.

External links

• Who's Saurian Now?: Photograph shows a snake that burst trying to eat an alligator (Snopes.com)
• Python Bursts After Trying to Eat Gator (AP, via WTOPNews.com)