Whole 5-foot alligator found inside Burmese python
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Warning: This article contains graphic content that some readers may find upsetting
A Burmese python found in Florida was killed and when the animal was opened up, people were stunned to find an entire alligator inside the massive snake.
You can watch the video below, but be warned that it's really not for the faint of heart and features a huge snake being sliced open with another creature being pulled out of it:
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For those of you who've managed to maintain the contents of your stomachs after watching an alligator be pulled out of a snake, or those who want to know but don't want to watch, congratulations for making it this far.
The sliced open serpent in question was an 18ft long Burmese python which had been caught and killed in Florida.
Before being found the python had managed to chow down, or rather swallow whole, a 5ft alligator, which a team was able to pull out of the snake carcass pretty much intact.
You might think that in the animal kingdom royal rumble an alligator almost as big as a human would be a pretty formidable opponent for a snake, but this one had been swallowed whole and was slowly being digested by the serpent.
Some people watching the procedure, which was posted on Instagram by scientist Rosie K Moore, protested at the apparent need to kill the snake which had swallowed the alligator.
However, Moore explained the reason why Burmese pythons found in Florida legally have to be killed, as they're an invasive species which poses a threat to local wildlife.
She wrote: "Due to the the subtropical environment of South Florida, paired with the Burmese pythons long life span and rapid reproduction, these snakes have successfully invaded ecologically sensitive areas such as Everglades National Park.
"This poses a threat to a variety of wildlife, due to the pythons wide dietary preferences."
If the ability to swallow a 5ft alligator whole doesn't count as posing a threat to local wildlife then I don't know what does.
She also explained that the necropsy was done to determine the impact the invasive serpents are having on the local ecosystem, and swallowing an alligator whole definitely counts as having an impact.
By studying the guts of animals to work out what they've eaten, a bit like that scene in Jaws where they go digging through the shark's belly, they can learn more about the animals.
A snake's ability to wholly devour other dangerous denizens of the animal kingdom is just utterly terrifying.
The Burmese python isn't even poisonous, but their flexible jaws allow them to swallow incredibly large creatures whole.
It might be best to stay away from Florida for a while.
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