Alligator with its mouth open — Courtesy: Shutterstock — Ernie Hounshell
In the Florida Everglades, a massive Burmese python was reportedly seen being towed through the water by a big alligator.
The alligator, known as “Godzilla,” is shown in the video, which was taken on Thanksgiving Day from the Shark Valley observation tower by Kelly Alvarez, a tour guide at Everglades National Park, gripping the dead python close to one end while swimming along the water’s surface and pulling the snake with it.
The video shows someone commenting, “It’s huge,” “That’s a really, really big python.”
Alvarez told USA TODAY that the python in the video seemed to be nearly twice as long as the alligator, which she believes to be between 10 and 12 feet long.
In the video, another tour guide states, “You know it’s something serious when it’s something we haven’t seen before.”
“Out here, I’ve seen a lot of alligators consuming pythons. Alvarez told USA TODAY, “I have never seen a python that big in my entire life.”
Which Burmese python was the biggest to be captured in Florida?
According to the University of Florida, mature Burmese pythons are among the largest snakes in the world, with an average of 10 to 16 feet in length.
On July 10, 2023, a team of python hunters captured the longest Burmese python ever measured in eastern Collier County’s Big Cypress National Preserve.
The enormous snake measured 19 feet in length.
In 2022, researchers from the Conservancy of Southwest Florida captured the largest Burmese python yet seen in the Florida Everglades. The enormous female python was about eighteen feet long and weighed an astounding 215 pounds.
The Everglades environment is severely impacted by invasive Burmese pythons, which have spread over more than a thousand square miles of South Florida, including Collier-Seminole State Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, and Everglades National Park.
The constrictors feed a wide variety of native species, including deer and field mice, and have few predators.
A 2012 study found that they had played a role in the decline of foxes, bobcats, marsh and cottontail rabbits, opossums, and raccoons.
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Melissa’s career in writing started more than 20 years ago. Today, she lives in South Florida with her husband and two boys.
