Wanna guess what this picture is? Give up? It's a picture of a Burmese Python that exploded after it ate an alligator in the Florida Everglades. That's the back end of a gator hanging out the middle of the snake. Also, the python was decapitated at some point.
According to National Geographic News:
"Wildlife researchers with the South Florida Natural Resources Center found the dead, headless python in October 2005 after it apparently tried to digest a 6-foot-long (2-meter-long) American alligator. The mostly intact dead gator was found sticking out of a hole in the midsection of the python, and wads of gator skin were found in the snake's gastrointestinal tract."
And I thought whale explosions were cool. The only way this would have been better is if the alligator subsequently exploded, or maybe if the snake had tried to eat two alligators.
This story is pretty cool in its own right, but seriously, "headless python"? How the heck did that happen? The whole "python couldn't hold its gator down" theory doesn't account for a decapitation. Some researchers--people with real science careers--suggested that the beheading was a retaliation job by another alligator. However, according to other real scientists, alligators don't make such clean cuts when they rip the heads off their prey. We may never know what really happened, but nature is a mystery, so don't let it bug you.
And while we're wondering what happened to the snake's head, we're missing the real question: what is a Burmese Python doing so far from its native Burma (now Myanmar)? The answer: disgruntled python owners are dumping their pets in the Florida swamp. I am not making this up. In a couple decades, we are going to have a full-blown Burmese Python crisis on our hands. Why are the presidential candidates not addressing this?
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