Alligator versus Python

[Anusien]

Link to the News Article

Full-sized Image

Yes, the python ate the alligator and then exploded, leaving the alligator's arm poking out of the python.  The scientists don't know, so TMD it's up to you.  Who will win?  Alligator versus Python (assume equal size, and neither ambushes the other).

(I appearantly can't post a poll.  Someone wanna help me out with that?)

[Machinus]

That's disgusting, but awesome.

[Klep]

Look at the picture! I think it's pretty clear it's a draw.

[Magi]

This is a hard one to decide. Maybe we should throw some midgets in there. :p

[Bram]

Maybe we should throw some midgets in there. :p

No. They don't get snacks until they're through fighting.

I'm with the alligator on this one. Fierce and powerful though the snake may be, it still relies on strangling its victim and swallowing it whole, whereas the allogator relies on ripping its victim to shreds using its jaws of doom equipped with rows of razor sharp teeth the size of Swiss army knives. This is by no means an easy choice, but I think the teeth will win in the end.

[forests failed you]

I'm going to go with snakes on this one. 

[BigMac]

I am going to go with the snake and this is the reason.

A gotor does not cut its victim to pieces. It bites real hard and then starts turning around to rip something off. When he does this with the snake it will just wind inself round the gator getting minor pinching wounds by the teeth but in the end strangling the gator as its winding movement is also its doom.

[Bram]

(...) minor pinching wounds by the teeth (...)

[Anusien]

Yeah, I voted Gator.  The story made it sound lopsided, like normally the Alligator wins, but this time the Python won, and it was a Pyrrhic victory.  If it was something like an Anaconda or a Boa, I might turn it towards the Snake, because I believe they don't have to eat their prey live; they have no problem choking their prey and eating it cold.

[dandan]

The python swallowed the alligator. I'm pretty sure that counts as a win for the snake. Just because the alligator was so large and pointy that it ruptured the snake doesn't make it hard. You lost, gator.

Note that being swallowed then killing your opponent by coming out of the stomach is a perfectly acceptable thing to do (if not particularly intelligent) but only if you are alive when you come out. If anyone thinks the alligator tried to be a ninja kamikaze gator, think again.

The thing I don't understand is why take on reptiles with pointy teeth when Florida is full of overweight old people.

[Matt]

I totally vote for the snake, just because I know that gators' jaw musculature is such that they bite down very impressively but the average adult human can hold their mouths shut.

[dandan]

My wife can't hold her mouth shut.

[Bram]

In a bizarre twist of events, this story was on Dutch evening news yesterday. Not one of the gossip newscasts either; the serious eight o'clock news on public TV. Must have been a slow newsday.

[Limbo]

In a bizarre twist of events, this story was on Dutch evening news yesterday. Not one of the gossip newscasts either; the serious eight o'clock news on public TV. Must have been a slow newsday.

And what did they vote for?

Alligators' main prey are smaller animals that they can kill and eat with a single bite. Alligators may kill larger prey by grabbing it and dragging it in the water to drown.

Anacondas lie submerged in the water, with only a small part of its head above the surface, waiting for any suitable prey. The inner of the three nasal shields being in contact with that of the other side

Seeing this was close to the water, it was probably an anaconda. Not only is the snake not really affected by the croq, as it is at home in the water as well, it is the favorite hunting domain of the snake as well.

If it was a python:

Those who work with reticulated pythons often cite an unusual level of intelligence and awareness compared to other species.

One way or the other, that croq is going down...

The gator has an edge on stupid humans though... (I advise against watching this just after lunch for the weak-hearted...)

[Gabethebabe]

In a bizarre twist of events, this story was on Dutch evening news yesterday. Not one of the gossip newscasts either; the serious eight o'clock news on public TV. Must have been a slow newsday.

I saw it on Teletext page 402 yesterday ...

[BigMac]

As that movie proves, some minor puncture wounds and then when he was twisting and turning the guy really got hurt. But boy was he stupid or what.

When a human is attacked by a gator it is far more likely the human will nor survive due to suffocating when being pulled under than from the bite itself. When a limb is torn of a man could bleed to death but still not the bite.

I would however not volunteer to put any of my limbs in a crocks mouth. Getting its mouth shut is not that hard, it is the getting it open again that is really hard.

[Limbo]

It all comes down to whom can hold his breath longer, and in which situation.

It is quite possible that the gator bites the snake at the same time  the snake starts constricting the gator. However, I don't see the gator dragging a 10 meter snake into the water, and if he could, I don't think it would survive longer then the snake, as his lungs are being compressed by some serious bondage...

[Methuselahn]

Clearly the anaconda has natural strategic superiority.  All he has to do is dodge the first punch and then lock him up.  This case is a strange case of a mature anaconda, swallowing a small gator, then exploding, they both die of the trauma. 

Unless, remember when you were a kid and you would cut a worm in half to watch and see two separate worms crawling around, yea, that but super-sized.  If that's the case, I'd pick a winner, and that would obviously have to go to the 7 meter long snake.

[Dozer]

Like with the Midgets versus The Lion, it's all about finding out who's the beatdown.

I'm for the Alligator, because here's what the picture proves:

When an alligator eats a snake, the snake is eaten.
When a snake swallows an alligator, all the 'gator has to do is take one deep breath and blast the snake apart from the inside.

[dandan]

I'd rather be a hammer than a nail, yes I would...... as a wise man once said.

Which was the predator and which was the prey?

[Limbo]

When an alligator eats a snake, the snake is eaten.

Quoted for truthery. However, it is tech for the gator to actually survive to the point where he is allowed to enter the dinner table...

When a snake swallows an alligator, all the 'gator has to do is take one deep breath and blast the snake apart from the inside.

Once again, as it would be a nice idea to have a large balloon along with you when you are eaten by a snake, so you can inflate it when you are in the "dungeon". Problem is that the snake will have made sure to remove all the air from your lungs before he starts snacking...

Gator 4 shoes, snake 4 president!