iStockphoto / girishacf
The American Alligator has ruled the state of Florida for 8 million years. They’ve encountered a few threats along the way like asteroids and deforestation, but they’ve generally sat at the top of their food chain.
Then came the invasive Burmese python which has proliferated throughout the Florida Everglades over the past few decades. It is impossible to say for sure how the Burmese python population numbers exploded but it’s generally believed they were introduced to the wild from an exotic pet dealer either before or after a hurricane and the rest is history.
This video was actually filmed back in March. I covered this Alligator vs Python battle back then. But for whatever reason the Internet has decided it should go viral again so I’m bringing it back another time.
After that video, Katina told WESH “It was amazing. I sat and watched him for like two hours. I had to. I said, ‘This is something I’ll most likely never come across again.”
There have been battles between alligators and invasive pythons in recent years that have made headlines. Why wouldn’t they? It’s a spectacular sight to see two massive reptile species battling it out in The Everglades but close enough to society that it’s not all that remote.
Pythons have also been observed eating cows. And in 2020, an 18-foot, 9-inch Burmese python was captured.
If I was a betting man I’d wager there are larger snakes out there than that one. At what point are Florida alligators of all sizes in grave danger of these massive snakes?