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There has been one documented case of an '''exploding snake''', whereby a [[Burmese python]] burst. The 13-foot (4 meter) [[snake]] had swallowed a 6-foot (1.8 meter) [[alligator]] whole. Rangers of the [[Everglades National Park]] discovered the carcasses in [[October 2005]], but they could not locate the snake's head. Frank Mazzotti, a professor from the [[University of Florida]], suggested that the alligator had tried to claw its way out of the snake. Alternative hypotheses suggest the alligator could have already been dead, or a third animal was involved. The incident was noted as a sign that alligators' supremacy as a predator is not a certainty in the wild. Mazzotti also noted that a human discovery of such a battle between these predators was rare.
An [[urban legend]] [[website]], [[Snopes]], suggests that after ingesting the alligator, the snake was possibly cut open and beheaded by another individual (either a human or another predator). Snopes also proposes that a gas build-up caused by the decomposing alligator could have ruptured the snake's body, and that its head was eaten by scavengers.
The news report highlighted the concern held by wildlife biologists that the the Burmese Python might spread across the Southern United States, where is finds a suitable climate, and become prohibitively expensive or impossible to eradicate. This would threaten native ecosystems and vulnerable species. Breeding populations from escaped specimens or specimens released by overwhelmed owners are found already in the Everglades, the [[Big Cypress]] and on [[Key Largo]]. [http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1875]
==See also==
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