A woman who was visiting the Florida Everglades captured footage of an American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) feasting on a large Burmese pyt
A woman who was visiting the Florida Everglades captured footage of an American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) feasting on a large Burmese python (Python bivittatus) in the Florida Everglades. Katina Boychew of Cape Coral, FL captured footage of the event and posted the video to Facebook March 31.
On the video, it shows the alligator feasting on the dead python and then slamming the snake into the reeds, presumably to finish killing the snake or to get a better grip on it for consumption. At any rate, it is certainly an interesting clip that shows that the ecosystem in which these Southeast Asian snakes have called home for the last 30 or so years, has found a way.
The Burmese python is an invasive species in the Florida Everglades and has been a resident of the ecosystem for more than 30 years. The American alligator is the apex predator in the Everglades ecosystem and is competing with the python on virtually every front.
Burmese Python Natural Habitat
While the Burmese python is considered an invasive species in the state of Florida, in its native Southeast Asian range, the large constrictor is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN. In its natural habitat, the snake can be found in eastern India, Nepal, Western Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam Malaysia souther China, Hong Kong, and Indonesia. It inhabits marshes, swamps, foothills, woodlands, jungles, and grasslands. In the Untied States, the snake is confined to southern Florida in the Florida Everglades, though one was found in northern Florida as well as the Florida panhandle’s coastal areas. It has not been found outside the state of Florida.
