Watch a Massive Python Swallow an Alligator Whole
You won't want to look away from this vintage wildlife video of the aftermath of a gator-python encounter
There’s something grossly enchanting about watching snakes distend their jaws to swallow their prey—and this vintage wildlife video definitely fits that bill. The footage was recorded by wildlife photographer Heiko Kiera, or “Ojatro,” who also recorded a shocking video we shared last week of a python fighting an alligator.
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Well, in this video, Kiera shows what happens to the loser of similar python vs. alligator battles. The footage starts by showing American alligators chowing down on small pythons and ends with the tables turned—when a truly giant python constricts and gorges down a sizeable gator. Check it out below.
“A fully-grown Burmese Python can reach over twenty feet in length and become an extremely dangerous prey item for most crocodilians,” explains Kiera. “These large constrictors do have not much to fear and will feed on most animals they come across—including alligators—when hungry.”
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Kiera filmed the wild footage near the Everglades. Florida is home to approximately 1.3 million alligators, which are native to the state. Pythons are invasive and have proliferated throughout much of South Florida. Pythons are able to stretch their mouths four times the size of their skull and swallow prey much larger than themselves, which is one recent they have dealt such damage to native critters in the Everglades.
