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Python Bursts After Trying to Eat Gator
- Thread starter Sirus The Virus
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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
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
I must be really confused, because when I read that title the first thing I thought was that Python (as in the language) tried to eat Gator (as in spyware 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!
Now that I've read the article, I still think "How is that even possible?". That's crazy!
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. 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.
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.
Dont Hurt Me said: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.
How big was it when you donated, they get up to about 30ft
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
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
LethalWolfe said:
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
Lacero said:
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
Lacero said:
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 said:Now that's a definite possibility too...
Woof, Woof - Dawg![pawprint.gif]()
or maybe invasion is a reality series after all
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.barneygumble said:
LethalWolfe said:
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...
rainman::|:| said: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...
Good point.
MacDawg said:
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
nature is stunning and amazing as always. too bad its balance is put out of order by us so often.
Pythons, in the everglades, in Florida, eats a gator, head explodes
Guess I learn something new almost everyday
For some reason I was thinking of the Florida Gators football team
Guess I learn something new almost everyday
For some reason I was thinking of the Florida Gators football team
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.