A cyclist came across the aftermath of an epic Florida predators battle in the Everglades, capturing close-up footage of an alligator eating a python.
According to a post in popular Facebook group Alligators of Florida and first reported by the Miami Herald, Alison Joslyn on Wednesday spotted an alligator approximately 10-feet long lying still on the Shark Valley loop. The alligator was tangled up in the long, thick snake, with the snake's head disappearing in the alligator's jaws.
“At first I thought it was dead. Then he opened an eye and looked at me!” Joslyn told USA TODAY in a message Friday. She said she got within six feet of it to capture the photos, passing it three times on her ride. It only moved once.
She asked the alligator enthusiast group why it might have been so still. She wondered if it was lethargic from the cold, tired from wrestling the snake or if it got injured from a bite.
Pythons are non-venomous snakes but kill their prey by crushing it with their bodies. In fact, a Palm Beach Post reporter, part of the USA TODAY Network, once caught a python strangling an alligator to death on video. Some pythons could also kill a human and swallow it whole.
Florida's invasive species:Can alligators help control Florida's python population? A new study provides clues
Burmese pythons are an invasive species that have bulldozed through Florida's native species, throwing off prey populations as they eat nearly everything in their path.
Members of the Facebook group cheered on the alligator for taking care of the python. Florida state pays people to kill pythons like the alligator did.
"Love to see this! He gets an exotic meal and helps the environment all in one!" Ryan Moore wrote on the post.
"I’m so glad the gator killed the snake. I know they’re just trying to live, but, they are an invasive species and have wreaked havoc on the animals of the Everglades," Debbie Collins commented. "I LOVE the Everglades!"
"That’s one less python to terrorize the Everglades," Joslyn wrote in her post, which has garnered nearly 200 comments and 1,000 reactions.
Contributing: Sean Rossman, USA TODAY; Joe Capozzi, Palm Beach Post; Chad Gillis, News Press
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