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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, 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. (Some pundits have even maintained that the snake was killed by a second alligator, which then ate the serpent's head.)
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.
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