Video shot in Everglades National Park shows an alligator dragging perhaps the largest Burmese python seen in the area. (Courtesy: Kelly Alvarez via Storyful)
EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK, Fla. – A video shot in Everglades National Park shows an alligator dragging perhaps one of the longest Burmese pythons to have been seen in the area.
The alligator and its catch were spotted from a distance, and yet the carnage was quite evident.
In its mouth, the alligator clutches the dead, bloated and partially eaten python as it effortlessly swims through the water despite the python dwarfing the alligator.
Alligator drags python.
(Kelly Alvarez via Storyful)
The alligator and its catch were spotted by Everglades tour guide Kelly Alvarez, who noted the impressive size of the dead python.
“The record for longest python found in the Florida Everglades is 19 feet,” she said. “Given that this alligator is minimum 10 feet, though I estimate him to be more around 12 feet, this python being twice his size is now quite possibly the longest Burmese python ever found in Everglades National Park.”
Burmese pythons are some of the largest snakes on the planet, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. The largest Burmese python found in the Sunshine State was more than 18 feet long.
FILE: Biologists Ian Easterling, left, and Ian Bartoszek are seen with a 14-foot female Burmese python captured in the mangrove habitat of southwestern Florida while tracking a male scout snake in March.
(Conservancy of Southwest Florida )
The pythons are an invasive species originating from southeast Asia, so they have few natural predators in Florida.