Posted on 01/09/2017 3:22:16 PM PST by BBell
OCHOPEE, Fla. You hear a big splash in Big Cypress, chances are it’s an alligator diving into the swamp, most likely after being startled from a roadside sunbath by an approaching human.But this was one big splash followed by another big splash. And another and another. I stopped my bicycle to see what all the ruckus was about.
Right there, just off the edge of Loop Road, no more than 15 feet away, an alligator was rising tail first and belly up over the surface of the water and then plunging back down. It was clear it was moving against its will. Then, as the gator rolled over and sank, something else came into view: the muscular coils of a very large snake.
It was a sight, I would learn later, that's rarely witnessed in the wild -- an alligator being attacked by a Burmese Python.
It was all at once terrifying, mesmerizing and beautiful, a battle between predator and prey that at times looked as graceful as a water ballet. Once I got the iPhone video rolling, I couldn’t stop watching.
I’ve seen lots of alligators in the wild, from canoes in Riverbend Park in Jupiter to bike rides in West Palm Beach’s Grassy Water Preserve to hikes in Everglades National Park outside Miami. But until I pedaled my mountain bike along a shell rock road 7 miles south of the Tamiami Trail on the morning of Dec. 21, I had never witnessed the grand spectacle of a gator being attacked by a large coiling serpent.
Aside from the birds perched on cypress branches above the swamp, I was the only spectator. Although I’d missed the initial ambush, what I watched for 15 minutes from my ringside seat wasn’t much of a fight.
(Excerpt) Read more at palmbeachpost.com ...
How long will it be before people start finding abandoned bikes along Big Cypress.
Direct link to video
>>On Big Cypress bike ride, I watched a python wrestle an alligator<<
Sounds like a CCR song title.
So, that’s pretty kewel.
The snake had the sense to use its tail as a periscope or breathing tube at one point.
You ain’t gonna be finding me or my bike anywhere near where those critters live!
It’s like one of those games where you wish both sides could lose.
Hard to find them.
Reminds me of the old joke about the dog who chased cars, and then one day finally caught one. What’s the snake gonna do with a whole gator?
Yikes!
It had to be snakes.
Amazing video!
Oooo-Kaaay.....
You wanna think on that for just a minute?
Obviously refarting, sucking air in through its anus.
LOL! Is that proof of something or what?
Dude ain’t no camera man, that’s for sure.
come one. I thought that was funny...
I would have thrown a rock at it’s head to see what happened...
THAT, is a big snake. He took at least a four to five foot gator and that requires a big snake.
As long as there is an exotic pet trade, there will be a constant source for new lost or dumped anacondas and pythons roaming free.
It seems more likely that it was an anaconda, since they hunt in the water and kill much as alligators do, by drowning their victims; they kill crocodiles and will eat anything. Pythons prefer dry land and to eat birds and mammals. Not that it matters much to that alligator.
I think it may be too late to stop now that they are breeding in the wild.
I always root for the alligator.
Me too.
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