Alligator Vs. Python: Round 2 Goes To Gator

Follow the link at the bottom for photos.
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THE EVERGLADES, Florida It's yet another battle highlighting the growing python threat in south Florida. This time the snake ended up as gator food.

A scientist in everglades national park took photos of the altercation between the two predators. One photo shows an alligator – its head above water – about to take a chomp out of a Burmese python. Another picture shows the end result. The alligator – with what was left of the snake next to it – showing everyone whose king of the swamp.

That was not the case a little over a week ago when a picture surfaced of a 13-foot python that literally exploded when it tried to swallow an American alligator from head to tail.

"Its crazy stuff, yes. I'm from Ohio I don’t see stuff like this,” said one tourist at Everglades National Park.

Tourists weren’t the only ones thrown for a loop. Park rangers say they're seeing a population explosion of pythons apparently discarded as pets by their owners.

Another Burmese python found wandering around had eaten Frances the cat for dinner. An ex-ray confirmed the sad news for Frances' owner.

A couple days later an African rock python had an early Thanksgiving dinner, finishing off a turkey in a southwest Miami Dade coop.

Alligators are a tougher match than turkeys and cats...and in this case the gator won out.

No one knows how many pythons are out there... But in the past five years alone 236 have been found. That’s why everglades park officials are hoping to start an eradication program next year if they get the necessary funding.

Link to story and photos

Man thats nuts, but just out of curiousity...how do they know these snakes were discarded by their owners?Gotta lot of hurricanes that could have tore down houses and released pets through out the area over the years.

Sorry Josh, but the authorities say people release them(enter sarcasm here)

That is a very good statement Josh. People are blamed for letting their animals go in wild, yet Mother Nature has nothing to do with it. Also that these snakes are capable to having over 80 eggs in one clutch. If a pair was washed out from a hurricane 15 years ago, imagine how many there could be today.