‘Swamp justice’? Cyclist crosses paths with gator eating python in Florida Everglades
The invasive pythons plaguing South Florida feed on alligators, so Floridians offer no pretense of sympathy in those rare instances when a gator turns the tables.
That happened Wednesday, Dec. 20, in the Shark Valley area of Everglades National Park, when a 10- or 11-foot alligator was seen trying to swallow an equally large python.
The snake’s head was already down the alligator’s throat when wildlife photographer Alison Joslyn rode by on her bicycle, and she thought at first that both apex predators were dead.
“The alligator didn’t seem to be chewing or moving, which is why I was worried. Then the alligator took a breath and looked at me,” Joslyn told McClatchy News in a phone interview.
“I was thrilled. I’m aware of the havoc pythons have wreaked in the Everglades, and I know not much preys on them, if anything. Score one for the good guys, I was thinking.”
The python was clearly dead, but the alligator was either not in a hurry to swallow it or was having trouble. Joslyn returned to the spot multiple times over three hours and the gator was still there, with the snake dangling from its jaws.
Her photos were shared Dec. 20 with the Alligators of Florida Facebook group, where many among the 108,000 members cheered the “king of the swamp.” Some called the scene “Florida at its finest.”
“The Everglades dealing out some ‘swamp justice’ to a large invasive Burmese Python,” S. Scott Clark wrote on Facebook.
“Those swamp pups will adapt to eat pythons. It’s just tak(ing) some time. Cool to see our natural predators fight back against invasive species,” Jonathan Fany said.
“Never thought I’d be rooting for a croc ... Get’em,” Edy Isley Hartley said.
Burmese pythons are native to southeast Asia, but were introduced to Florida through the exotic pet trade, experts say.
Surveys of python stomach contents by researchers at the University of Florida revealed the snakes are eating 24 species of mammal, 47 species of bird and three reptile species in South Florida, according to the Conservancy of Southwest Florida.
The heaviest python found in the state was a 215-pounder captured in 2022, officials say.
This story was originally published December 21, 2023 at 2:22 PM with the headline "‘Swamp justice’? Cyclist crosses paths with gator eating python in Florida Everglades."