American alligator - Alligator mississippiensis

[Creodont]

The American alligator. I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how cool and unique Florida’s black water rivers are. They hold many species that can be found nowhere else on earth and are truly ephemeral to dive. You can dive when the waters clear but a single rainfall might ruin the visibility for months to come.  

[Infinity Blade]

‘Fighting for its life’: Florida cyclist captures jaw-dropping video of massive alligator chowing down on python

SHARK VALLEY, Fla. (WFLA) — Bicyclist Alison Joslyn was riding through Shark Valley in the Everglades this week when she captured a horrifying sight – a massive snake caught in the jaws of a monstrous alligator.

“That’s one less python to terrorize the Everglades,” she wrote in a Facebook post.

Joslyn, a longtime competitive endurance athlete who began cycling and participating in triathlons in 1987, was cycling the 15-mile loop in Shar Valley when she saw the “special and rare” moment.

“I was cycling the 15-mile loop in Shark Valley as I love the Everglades and wanted to get out into nature,” she said. “I’ve also been into wildlife photography since the mid-90s. moved to Miami in 2019 and have been amazed at the incredible nature we have at our doorstep, so I know enough that when I saw the gator and the snake, I realized right away it was something quite special and rare.”

In her Facebook post, Joslyn noted that the massive gator looked “quite lethargic” and wondered if it was due to the cold or if it was tired from fighting the snake.


Photo courtesy of Alison Joslyn

“Gator was quite lethargic and I was wondering if it might be the cold, he was tired from fighting the snake, maybe got bit by the snake, started swallowing the snake and had to stop because it was too big? Other thoughts?” she asked in her caption.

She told WFLA she estimated the gator to be about 10 feet long. As for the snake, Joslyn said the reptile was “already partway down the alligator’s throat and kind of wrapped around but said it seemed to be “at least as long as the gator.”

Joslyn added in her Facebook post that although pythons aren’t venomous, she wondered if a bite from the snake could’ve done damage to the soft tissue in the gator’s mouth as it was “fighting for its life.”

With pythons being invasive in Florida, Joslyn said she was aware of the havoc they wreak on the Everglades, so when she saw the alligator-snake fight, she “couldn’t help but think, ‘Score one for the good guys!'”

www.wfla.com/news/animals/fighting-for-its-life-florida-cyclist-captures-jaw-dropping-video-of-massive-alligator-chowing-down-on-python/