It might have been ‘see ya later alligator’ but a leathery reptile had the last laugh after a rumble with a Burmese python in Florida.
Paying the ultimate price for its greed, the 3.9 python exploded after trying to swallow the 1.8m alligator.
Rangers in the Everglades National Park say the discovery of the remains suggests the pythons may now challenge alligators’ leading position in the food chain in the swamps.
This was a case of the traditional underdog almost coming to the fore. There had been four known encounters between
the two species in the past, with the alligator either emerging victorious or
the battle ending in an apparent draw.
In this case, the python’s remains were found with the victim’s tail protruding from its burst midsection. The head of the python was missing.
“Encounters like that are almost never seen in the wild… And here we are,” Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida wildlife professor, told the Associated Press news agency.
“They were probably evenly matched in size. If the python got a good grip on the alligator before the alligator got a good grip on him, he could win.”
Battles in the wild: Watch a group of hyenas take on a lioness:
[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7s6KhKjEEY]
And a honey badger take out a cobra. Is the honey badger pound-for-pound the toughest animal there is?
[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c81bcjyfn6U]
