*#REDIRECT [[Exploding animal]] ▼There has been one documented case of an '''exploding snake''', whereby a [[Burmese python]] burst. The [[snake]] had attempted to eat an [[alligator]] whole, but exploded mid-meal. Rangers of the [[Everglades National Park]] discovered the explosion in [[October 2005]], but they could not locate the snake's head; the alligator had also died. Frank Mazzotti, a professor from the [[University of Florida]], suggested that the alligator had tried to claw its way out of the snake, causing the explosion. Alternative theories suggest the alligator could have already been dead, or a third animal was involved.
Snopes offers other possible alternative explanations. The python ate an alligator (possibly an already-dead one it came across), and some other agent — probably human — killed the snake, chopped off its head, and cut open its midsection, exposing the as-yet undigested gator. Or, another alligator came along and bit the snake's stomach and then decapitated it with it's mouth. Or, the rotting gator meat inside the python caused a build-up of gases which ruptured the snake's body, and after the python died its head sank into the water, where it was eaten by scavengers.
The incident was noted as a sign that alligators' supremacy as predators is not a certainty in the wild. Frank Mazzotti, a wildlife professor at the [[University of Florida]], remarked that a human discovery of such a battle between these predators was rare indeed.
The incident was part of a "[[python epidemic]]" in which pet owners released their pythons throughout [[Florida]], in belief that they would not cause trouble. At least 93 pythons were captured, not including the one involved in this incident. This "python epidemic" continues presently.
==See also==
== References ==
* [[BBC News]] ([[5 October]] [[2005]]) "[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4313978.stm Snake bursts after gobbling gator]". Accessed [[6 October]] [[2005]].
== External links ==
* [http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/snakegator.asp Who's Saurian Now?: Photograph shows a snake that burst trying to eat an alligator] (Snopes.com)
* [http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=456&sid=636160 Python Bursts After Trying to Eat Gator] (AP, via WTOPNews.com)
{{exploding organisms}}
[[Category:Exploding animals|Snake]]
[[fr:Explosion de serpent]]
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