Stunning Video Shows Florida Alligator Chomping Down Giant Invasive Python in Everglades

Photo by Alison Joslyn via Facebook.

A South Florida woman captured a stunning video of an alligator making a meal out of a massive Burmese python, an invasive non-native species that has devastated local wildlife.

Cycling enthusiast and amateur wildlife photographer Alison Joslyn posted the video, along with several photos, in the “Alligators of Florida” Facebook group, sharing how she had come across the “unusual sight” while bicycling through part of Everglades National Park.

Burmese pythons, a non-native species to Florida first introduced by people releasing unwanted pets into the wild, have had a devastating impact on the Everglades. They grow to an average length of 12 feet and have been known to reach over 18 feet in the wild. The voracious reptiles’ appetite leaves local animals at a severe competitive disadvantage — for both the species the pythons target as prey and the other predators who find their food source wiped out. Due to their ubiquity and threat to local species, it’s legal in Florida to kill them humanely year-round without needing a hunting permit and the state government in Florida even sponsors an annual python hunt contest every year.

Alligators are one of the very few animals who can pose a challenge to the pythons, and Joslyn’s video was cheered by many Floridians in the Facebook group. “That’s one less python to terrorize the Everglades,” wrote Joslyn in her post.

She initially thought the gator might be dead too, since it wasn’t moving when she first noticed it, according to Fox 35 Orlando, but then it opened its eyes. Her reaction: “Phew! Score one for the home team!”

Watch the video above, via Fox.