Python Bursts After Trying to Eat Gator

[Sirus The Virus]

Link (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051005/ap_on_fe_st/gator_python)
This is different.

[Mr. Anderson]

I was thinking before reading it if the head and not the tail burst out it'd be a Mutual of Omaha's Alien Kingdom episode....

That's truly nuts and kind of scary since there could be any number of *very* large pythons out there in the everglades. I wonder how long its going to be before someone gets hurt by one of these things.

D

[barneygumble]

:eek: is all i can really say

[Bern]

Some would call that "Gator Raid" :p

[dubbz]

I must be really confused, because when I read that title the first thing I thought was that Python (as in the language (http://www.python.org/)) tried to eat Gator (as in spyware (http://www.gator.com/) company). It made no sense at all. "How is that even possible?".


Now that I've read the article, I still think "How is that even possible?". That's crazy! :eek:

[mcadam]

Apparently this is the silliest animal news all week - but then...

It is unknown how many pythons are competing with the thousands of alligators in the Everglades, but at least 150 have been captured in the past two years

:eek:

Well, at least they're not smart enough to make sure the food is dead before it eats. A very important lesson to learn if you wanna end at the top of the pyramid.:cool:

A

[tech4all]

Crazy.

That would be something if a python swallowed an alligator then eventually the alligator broke loose of the snakes body, then ended up eating the snake.....freaky :eek:

[Dont Hurt Me]

Interesting, i use to own a Reticulated Python, donated her to the Science Museum in St Pete about 20 yrs ago. If she's still alive she could eat that thing with no problem. :eek: Glad i dont have that anymore. Fact is Man has brought all kinds of Non Native specis in his travel all over this planet. Red Ants have to be at the top of my list.

[anotherjeff]

And that's why we chew. Thank you mother nature.

[barneygumble]

Interesting, i use to own a Reticulated Python, donated her to the Science Museum in St Pete about 20 yrs ago. If she's still alive she could eat that thing with no problem. :eek: Glad i dont have that anymore. Fact is Man has brought all kinds of Non Native specis in his travel all over this planet. Red Ants have to be at the top of my list.

How big was it when you donated, they get up to about 30ft

[LethalWolfe]

Interesting. 2 things that make me go "hmm" though about the article.

1. Why is a python as a "top down predator" significantly worse than a gator as a "top down predator"?

2. I don't think the gator "clawed" at anything as it was very dead before the python started to eat it. Maybe a claw snagged and ruptured the snakes stomach, but the gator was not alive & clawing inside the snake (which is what the article sounds like to me).


Lethal

[MacDawg]

Interesting. 2 things that make me go "hmm" though about the article.

1. Why is a python as a "top down predator" significantly worse than a gator as a "top down predator"?

2. I don't think the gator "clawed" at anything as it was very dead before the python started to eat it. Maybe a claw snagged and ruptured the snakes stomach, but the gator was not alive & clawing inside the snake (which is what the article sounds like to me).


Lethal

Did the article say the gator was "very dead" before the python ate it? I missed that part if it did. How do we know it wasn't alive?

Woof, Woof - Dawg http://homepage.mac.com/k.j.vinson/pawprint.gif

[Lacero]

Dead. Pythons strangle their prey before attempting to eat them. If the alligator was alive, how would the pythons mouth wrestle with the alligator's jaw? I think it burst because of the alligators spines slicing into the snake's belly.

[MacDawg]

Dead. Pythons strangle their prey before attempting to eat them. If the alligator was alive, how would the pythons mouth wrestle with the alligator's jaw? I think it burst because of the alligators spines slicing into the snake's belly.

True enough, but the python could have thought it was dead, and swallowed it in a weakened condition, only to have it revive enough to struggle and claw.

Woof, Woof - Dawg http://homepage.mac.com/k.j.vinson/pawprint.gif

[Don't panic]

Dead. Pythons strangle their prey before attempting to eat them. If the alligator was alive, how would the pythons mouth wrestle with the alligator's jaw? I think it burst because of the alligators spines slicing into the snake's belly.

also, if the gator was 'alive and biting', then the python's 'breaking point' would be more likely in the area where the gator's head is, not at the height of the tail.

I side with the "already dead" school of thought.
the death of the python is more probably caused by one of the rear leg's claw or back's spine slicing the gut, as lacero said (like other animals, they can still have jerky movements after death), or maybe even by a second gator preying upon the digesting/sleeping snake

[MacDawg]

or maybe even by a second gator preying upon the digesting/sleeping snake

Now that's a definite possibility too...

Woof, Woof - Dawg http://homepage.mac.com/k.j.vinson/pawprint.gif

[Don't panic]

Now that's a definite possibility too...

Woof, Woof - Dawg http://homepage.mac.com/k.j.vinson/pawprint.gif

or maybe invasion is a reality series after all ;)

[Dont Hurt Me]

How big was it when you donated, they get up to about 30ft
It was a young only about 7-8 ft long. Last i heard was she had gotton to about 20 feet but that was years ago.

[rainman::|:|]

1. Why is a python as a "top down predator" significantly worse than a gator as a "top down predator"?

That's a good question. The lay-person explanation is this... It's because the alligator is native, so all of the other species have come to a natural balance over tens of thousands of years... to the point where these animals have evolved together. Other animals instinctively know how to coexist with the alligator, but they can't with the python-- it just eats them. They have no time to evolve, develop a reaction, these things just invade. It's the same situation with the Zebra Mussels in the great lakes, and those scary garbage-disposal-looking-eels that are rapidly infesting our waterways-- things that could exist fine in one ecosystem can completely and literally destroy another one. Something to think about when you're deciding what to do with an unwanted exotic pet... :mad:

[dmw007]

I guess that its eyes were larger than its stomach! :)

[LethalWolfe]

That's a good question. The lay-person explanation is this... It's because the alligator is native, so all of the other species have come to a natural balance over tens of thousands of years... to the point where these animals have evolved together. Other animals instinctively know how to coexist with the alligator, but they can't with the python-- it just eats them. They have no time to evolve, develop a reaction, these things just invade. It's the same situation with the Zebra Mussels in the great lakes, and those scary garbage-disposal-looking-eels that are rapidly infesting our waterways-- things that could exist fine in one ecosystem can completely and literally destroy another one. Something to think about when you're deciding what to do with an unwanted exotic pet... :mad:

Good point. :)

True enough, but the python could have thought it was dead, and swallowed it in a weakened condition, only to have it revive enough to struggle and claw.

Woof, Woof - Dawg

Trust me, it was dead. I grew up w/a Boa as a pet and watched it feed many times. Even something as "harmless" as a mouse could kill a snake from the inside if it wasn't dead before the snake ate it. Constrictors (like Boas and Pythons) know how to crush/asphyxiate their prey. They then release it and size it up before eating it.

I also doubt the "gator clawed its way out" part because it's not quoted. I think the report misheard or misunderstood something.


Lethal

[PlaceofDis]

nature is stunning and amazing as always. too bad its balance is put out of order by us so often.

[joepunk]

Pythons, in the everglades, in Florida, eats a gator, head explodes :eek:
Guess I learn something new almost everyday

For some reason I was thinking of the Florida Gators football team :p

[Lacero]

I think what we can learn from this is that we shouldn't eat alligators whole. Anyone eat gator meat?

[AoWolf]

Ah the wonderful creatures we have in this state. I wonder though how this fits in with the whole survival of the fittest idea. Some would argue if the python can eat the gator why shouldn't it. I am not sure where I stand. It would be interesting to see a python fight a gator.

[dmw007]

I think what we can learn from this is that we shouldn't eat alligators whole. Anyone eat gator meat?

A good lesson to learn indeed.

I guess that I shall have to forget the idea of ever trying to eat one whole...shucks.... :) ;)

[Counterfit]

And that's why we chew. Thank you mother nature.
Three cheers for mastication! :D

[dmw007]

Three cheers for mastication! :D

hip, hip, hooray!
hip, hip, hooray!
hip, hip, hooray!

:)

[mac-er]

I must be really confused, because when I read that title the first thing I thought was that Python (as in the language (http://www.python.org/)) tried to eat Gator (as in spyware (http://www.gator.com/) company).

That is how you know you are a geek.
:D ;)

[mac-er]

The article says the alligator was alive.

Unless any of you are zoologists or biologists...I'll believe the biologist that is quoted in the article.

[LethalWolfe]

The article says the alligator was alive.

Unless any of you are zoologists or biologists...I'll believe the biologist that is quoted in the article.

There isn't a quote in the article of a biologist saying that the gator was alive or that it clawed it's way out. Like I said before, I think the reporter misheard or misunderstood something. Even reporters make mistakes.

Have you ever seen a python or boa feed? If so you should know how unlikely it would be for the prey (especially a gator) to be swallowed alive.


Lethal

[barneygumble]

Three cheers for mastication! :D

Heh, heh I once told my boss to stop masticating with her mouth open, needless to say she was horribly offended until i told her what it was :)

[Counterfit]

hip, hip, hooray!
hip, hip, hooray!
hip, hip, hooray!

:)
I think you mean chewray ;)



Okay, I think it's time for bed now :rolleyes:

[John Jacob]

hip, hip, hooray!
hip, hip, hooray!
hip, hip, hooray!


I think you mean chewray ;)


And I think dmw007 meant hic, hic! :D

[bartelby]

According to the BBC the head of the python was missing.

Link (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4313978.stm)

[Abstract]

The article says the alligator was alive.

Unless any of you are zoologists or biologists...I'll believe the biologist that is quoted in the article.

Oh Mac-er, you're so gullible.

Actually, i guess you may be right, but that gator had to have been injured and almost dead. Snakes don't just swallow squirming animals. They need to be incapacitated first, which is usually done by wrapping its body around its prey first. In this case, I'm not so sure about that.

[carpe diem]

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

[dmw007]

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Well, that about sums it up. :)

[dmw007]

I think you mean chewray ;)



Oops, it must have slipped my mind- terribly sorry! ;) :)

[lem0n]

i think the gator has ot be dead first... it takes quite a while for a python to swallow something that big since it has to expand and in the picture, the gator looks like it's down pretty far before the python burst... if the gator is not dead then it wouldn't allow the python to swallow it... right? :eek: *imagine gator's mouth, that's lots of bacteria...

[wdlove]

Such is life in the animal kingdom. Does make one sad though. :(

[Dros]

Just to extend this theme:

Python eats kangaroo (http://cellar.org/iotd.php?threadid=8034)

[sushi]

Have you ever seen a python or boa feed? If so you should know how unlikely it would be for the prey (especially a gator) to be swallowed alive.
I have seen a python eat. Even feed it at times when I was a kid. Our friends owned a python, Boa and many other exotic pets.

I totally agree with you that the Python or Boa will kill the prey first, then eat it.

But they can make a mistake albiet rare. Some species will apear dead when after receiving a tramatic injury to their body in some cases.

One time I saw a mouse that came back to life when the Boa was trying to eat it. In this case, the Boa spit/pulled it out (it was only in part of the way) and re-squeezed it.

Another time, the mouse was almost all the way in but started to move. The Boa continued to swallow it. Mouse dead. Boa okay.

Granted these are mice and not a gator.

In this case, maybe the gator was not dead but stunned and then revieved inside the snake and moved a bit before dying for lack of oxygen.

Sushi

[floatingspirit]

Crazy.

That would be something if a python swallowed an alligator then eventually the alligator broke loose of the snakes body, then ended up eating the snake.....freaky :eek:

I saw a nature video once where a big toad swallowed a dumb little lizard. After a few minutes the toad keeled over and the lizard crawled out and went its merry way. It didn't eat the toad, but it gave him a good secretion of poison au d'lizard!

[floatingspirit]

Here's a theory. Another gator came and tried to rescue him. That could explain why the python's head is missing as well as the opened gut.

[barneygumble]

Just to extend this theme:

Python eats kangaroo (http://cellar.org/iotd.php?threadid=8034)

Now those are some awesome photos :) The poor thing probably couldn't move for a week

[Sirus The Virus]

Just to extend this theme:

Python eats kangaroo (http://cellar.org/iotd.php?threadid=8034)

Holy crap!

[MacDawg]

Not quite as dramatic, but Burmese python swallows cat now...
Link to Python story (http://www.tampabays10.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=19803)

Lock the doors, grab the children, we are being invaded by pythons!

Woof, Woof – Dawg http://homepage.mac.com/k.j.vinson/pawprint.gif

[atszyman]

Dead. Pythons strangle their prey before attempting to eat them. If the alligator was alive, how would the pythons mouth wrestle with the alligator's jaw? I think it burst because of the alligators spines slicing into the snake's belly.

I don't think there would be a massive problem with the alligator's jaw. Most of the people who wrestle alligators for show have no problem holding the mouth shut, it's trying to get it open once the gator clamps down that is a problem. The muscles to open the mouth aren't anywhere near as strong as those used to close the mouth. At least that's what they say on TV...

I am not sure what to believe about the alligator in the story being alive or dead.

[ziwi]

gluttony ;)

Maybe the heat of the decaying carcass coupled with the snake stretched a far as possible...

[Jaffa Cake]

Here's a theory. Another gator came and tried to rescue him. That could explain why the python's head is missing as well as the opened gut.Or maybe some hunters came across the drowsy, fully-fed (and perfectly healthy) python, killed it, took its head as a trophy, and sliced it open to see what was in its belly? It just seems a little odd to me that the head was removed and is nowhere to be found...

A possibility or just a flight of fancy on my part?