Wednesday October 5, 2005

Python in Everglades bursts after trying to eat gator

Burmese pythons are one of the species that have thrived in the Everglades after being released as pets. Biologists have long wondered how they would get along with gators, formerly the apex of the Everglades’ food chain.

This particular python, 13 feet, tried to eat a 6 foot gator. It got him halfway down, and the gator kicked through the side of the python’s gut. Both animals died. From the appropriatly sensationalist Herald article (note their headline):

While unusual, it’s not unheard of for a snake to consume prey that proves too hard or large to digest. Things like claws, hooves or bones can damage the snake’s internal organs. The bulk of a victim can put pressure on the snake’s lungs, essentially suffocating it from within. Slowed by the extra weight, the snake might have been attacked by another gator, which could explain a missing python head. Joe Wasilewski, a South Miami-Dade biologist and expert gator and crocodile tracker, examined the photos and surmised the gator wasn’t quite dead when the snake swallowed it snout-first. That’s not uncommon, he said. ‘’That [gator] could have been kicking its hind legs and ruptured the snake’s stomach wall,’’ Wasilewski said.

Take that, you unholy snake monster! Pythons better watch their asses – evolution is alive and well, and we’re hoping the gators are learning to team up on outside invaders.

Update: At the risk of approaching an incestuous level of miami blog interlinking, Kathleen’s take on the issue includes this:

I’m going to take a moment for a shout-out to all the commitment-averse snake owners out there: Hey jerks, if you get to a point where python ownership is too much for you, and you’re considering the idea of releasing your Burmese python into the wild so that it can be free, at least go to effing Burma to do it!

Get down with your bad self, KH!

· Post to del.icio.us, digg, reddit · Comment feed for this post: RSS, atom

  1. The Daily Sketch    Wed Oct 5, 07:44 PM #  

    Its disgusting and intriguing all at the same time. Only in Miami. ;)

  2. I Don't Know    Wed Oct 5, 09:56 PM #  

    Possibly the greatest thing I’ve heard in my entire life. I am without voice.

  3. Neil    Wed Oct 5, 11:57 PM #  

    Evolution is alive and well?”
    You’re going to hell.

  4. Merkin    Thu Oct 6, 12:02 AM #  

    If you’d get the hell outta the way of my bulldozers and let me build housing out there in that stinking godforsaken swamp, we wouldn’t have gigantic predator snakes to worry about. Why dontcha swim on out and hug one, PETA pipers?

  5. Kathleen    Thu Oct 6, 10:20 AM #  

    About the incestuous blog linkage: I prefer to think of it as “discourse”.

  6. Franklin    Thu Oct 6, 02:55 PM #  

    Discourse, eh? I guess I’ll chime in here, then.

    The only way this could possibly be cooler would be to work a giant squid into it somehow.

  7. ag    Thu Oct 6, 03:29 PM #  

    um, my brother and i have played the “who would win between” game for years. i called him at 6am when i first saw this story break… i said “who would win between an alligator and a python”...he said “an alligator” – i said “you’re wrong motherfucker, they both die!”

    he was really happy that i woke him up.

  8. mirta    Tue Oct 11, 09:26 AM #  

    hey merkin
    fuck you and the bush bro’s
    i got your swamp right here bitch.

  9. Hugh Bris    Tue Oct 11, 10:27 AM #  

    The latest is a python that gobbled up a housecat in Miami Gardens. Seems to me if we’re going to share our neighborhoods with ravenous, predator reptiles like this, we should put them to good use. Can’t we train them to eat muscovy ducks? Ripe, homeless bums? Maybe tasty teenagers who don’t know the difference between a car horn and a doorbell? Let’s apply nature to social problems instead of resisting it. It’s win-win.

  10. Diaz bal    Wed Oct 12, 03:34 PM #  

    HHHMMMMMMM…..BUM MEAT!!!!

  11. Tanya Hyde    Wed Oct 12, 03:42 PM #  

    Snakes are sooooo neat. They bask in the sun for hours, motionless in the heat of the day. Their skin is gorgeous, sensual. I want to come back as a snake. They turn me on.

  12. Honchy    Mon Nov 7, 10:00 PM #  

    WOOOOOOW That’s trully amazing!!!



  13. snakefucker    Sat Nov 12, 02:10 AM #  

    wellmy cuz had a python.. it beat it up like i stole sumthn