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A video shows an entire alligator being removed from inside a large Burmese python.
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The python, which had been euthanized, had swallowed the alligator whole.
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Scientists said the video highlights the issue of invasive pythons in Florida’s Everglades ecosystem.
A graphic video shows the moment a 5-foot-long alligator is removed from inside an 18-foot Burmese python.
The viral video shows scientists cutting open the giant snake to remove the deceased alligator, which had been swallowed whole.
The video was first posted to Instagram by Rosie Moore, a Florida-based scientist.
Moore wrote on Instagram that field workers euthanized the snake and then turned it over to their research lab to perform a necropsy and collect samples.
“They called us, and they said there was a large object in it. We thought it was either a deer or an alligator,” Moore told DailyMail.com.
“It’s definitely shocking. It was my first time ever seeing an event like that. I’ve never seen a python with something like that in it.”
Burmese pythons must be euthanized in Florida as they are invasive species that pose a significant threat to various indigenous wildlife in the unique ecosystem of the Everglades.
Moore said on Instagram that the shocking discovery highlights the issue of invasive pythons in South Florida’s Everglades National Park, as the reptiles have long life spans and reproduce rapidly, and feed on a wide variety of animals.
Burmese pythons are not native to Florida. It’s believed that the species were released into the wild by irresponsible exotic pet owners and after Hurricane Andrew in 1992, which experts say destroyed a python breeding facility and released countless snakes into nearby swamps, per History.com.
Read the original article on Insider
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