- A Florida woman captured a video of an alligator killing and eating a python in the Everglades.
- A geoscientist based in Florida told Insider that it’s becoming an increasingly common sight.
- Sometimes pythons will eat alligators, and vice versa, but the python population has been booming.
A Florida woman visiting the Everglades stumbled upon a battle of beasts that ended with an alligator playing with its food — a python — before scarfing it down.
According to NBC2, Katrina Boychew visited the Everglades in late March, and encountered an alligator resting in a marsh with a python locked between its jaws. In a video uploaded to Instagram, the alligator can be seen chomping down on the python, before slamming its body onto the marsh ground and continuing to eat it.
The video, titled, “Gator vs. Python,” was not entirely shocking to Rosie Moore, a geoscientist based in Florida who works with pythons and alligators.
“While I personally have never seen this happen before, it’s no surprise to see an alligator eating a python,” Moore told Insider. “Snakes are a staple in an alligators diet, and depending on size class of the animals, there is an equal opportunity for the alligators to prey on the snakes and snakes to prey on the alligators.”
When the alligator shakes its head, body slamming the python, Moore said that the maneuver is meant to create smaller bites of a larger meal.
Burmese pythons, like the one in the video, have ravaged Florida over the last few years, with an 18-foot python swallowing an alligator whole last month.
Reports of alligator and python predation towards each other have also increased, Moore told Insider.
“This is most likely due to both the pythons range extending further north and closer to areas people frequent, causing an uptick in reported sightings, and also the population increasing in general,” Moore said. “The python situation in Florida is far past the point of containment.”
