Am an has taken amazing video footage of an alligator dragging away a dead Burmese python in the Florida Everglades.
The footage was captured by Everglades City resident Carl Nicholson on July 24 and was posted to his Facebook page. The alligator can be seen pushing the dead python down a canal before taking it to the water’s edge. It is not clear whether the alligator killed the snake or found the serpent when it was already dead.
“There’s a gator with a big dead python in 29 canal,” Nicholson said in the video. “Big gator too he can’t even take it under. He’s trying though.”
Burmese pythons are among the largest snakes in the world, capable of growing to around 20 feet in length. The Florida record is a specimen that measured 18 feet, 9 inches.
Native to Southeast Asia, the snakes have thrived as an invasive species in South Florida, primarily in the Everglades ecosystem, where they are well adapted to the local environment.
Humans introduced Burmese pythons to Florida in the 1970s and 1980s when thousands of them were imported to be sold as exotic pets.
“Burmese pythons were introduced to Florida through accidental and intentional releases through the pet trade,” Lisa Thompson, a spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, previously told Newsweek. “Several introduction events likely occurred in multiple locations across South Florida.”
While the size of the Burmese python population is almost impossible to estimate because the snakes are so hard to detect—experts think the number is likely in the tens of thousands, perhaps even higher—the invasive species is having a damaging effect on the state’s native wildlife.
As a result, state authorities have implemented several measures to try to control the python population—including the Florida Python Challenge—even though eradicating them at this stage is very unlikely.
American alligators are found in coastal wetlands throughout the southeastern U.S., ranging from Florida to as far north as North Carolina and as far west as eastern Texas, according to the National Wildlife Federation.
Males can grow to more than 12 feet in length and weigh as much as 1,000 pounds, while females tend to be slightly smaller on average.
One of the reasons the Burmese python has thrived in the state is the lack of natural predators. American alligators, however, have been known to prey on the snakes. Interactions between these two large predators don’t always result in the same result, as Burmese pythons have also been recorded eating alligators on occasion.
“BIG BOY gator doing his part to help get rid of the invasive pythons here in South Florida where these snakes represent a threat to native wildlife!” Everglades Holiday Park said in a Facebook post sharing Nicholson’s video.