Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Python Bursts After Trying to Eat Gator

Lacero said:
I think what we can learn from this is that we shouldn't eat alligators whole. Anyone eat gator meat?
Click to expand...

A good lesson to learn indeed.

I guess that I shall have to forget the idea of ever trying to eat one whole...shucks.... :) ;)
 
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.
 
mac-er said:
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.
Click to expand...

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
 
Counterfit said:
Three cheers for mastication! :D
Click to expand...

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 :)
 
mac-er said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
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...
 
LethalWolfe said:
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.
Click to expand...
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
 
tech4all said:
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:
Click to expand...

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!
 
Not quite as dramatic, but Burmese python swallows cat now...
Link to Python story

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

Woof, Woof – Dawg
pawprint.gif
 
Lacero said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back