A Florida woman visiting the Everglades came to see a battle of the monsters, which finished with an alligator playing with its prey, a python, before devouring it.
According to NBC2, in late March, Katrina Boychew visited the Everglades and came upon an alligator relaxing in a swamp with a python caught between its teeth. The alligator can be seen chewing down on the python in an Instagram video before smashing its body against the marsh ground and keeping on eating it.
Rosie Moore, a geoscientist located in Florida who studies pythons and alligators, was not surprised by the video, titled “Gator vs. Python.” “While I personally have never seen this happen before, it’s no surprise to see an alligator eating a python,” Moore told Insider.
“Snakes are a staple in an alligators diet, and depending on the size class of the animals, there is an equal opportunity for the alligators to prey on the snakes and snakes to prey on the alligators,” Moore said that when the alligator jerks its head, body slamming the python, it is doing so to create smaller pieces of a larger meal.
Burmese pythons, such as the one in the video, have wreaked havoc on Florida in recent years, with one 18-foot python devouring an alligator whole last November. Moore told Insider that reports of alligator and python predation on one other had also increased.
“This is most likely due to both the pythons range extending further north and closer to areas people frequent, causing an uptick in reported sightings, and also the population increasing in general,” Moore said. “The python situation in Florida is far past the point of containment.”