Scientists release video of 5-foot alligator being cut out of Florida python

A group of scientists discovered a massive Burmese python had a significant lump in its stomach. This python was euthanized for science and dissected.

The group of five scientists, including Rosie Moore, geoscientists based in Florida, took to social media on November 1 by posting a video to Moore's Instagram account that showcased the massive 18-foot-long python being de-skinned and eventually cut open to reveal it had consumed a 5-foot-long alligator that was mostly still intact. Moore spoke to CNN and said that the researchers were taking breaks during the dissection process just to get away from the smell. Moore said she thought it was "pretty gross too".

As for where the python was found, officials at the Everglades National Park discovered the monstrous invasive snake and killed it. Officials have deemed these species of python to be a "threat to a variety of wildlife in the Everglades National Park" as they "are eating our native wildlife" and "outcompeting native animals for food." Moore said that these types of snakes have "have successfully invaded ecologically sensitive areas". In response to these dangerous snakes, the state of Florida has implemented 100 licensed python hunters that are paid to catch and kill these snakes.

"I sleep maybe every other night. I'm either out in the field with the hunters myself or I'm at home tracking them. They're very cryptic animals. They're very well camouflaged. You could be right up on a python, and it blends in so well to its environment, if you don't know what you're looking for, chances are it's going to walk right past," said Mike Kirkland, an invasive-species biologist who manages the South Florida Water Management District's python-elimination program

Nearly 10,000 Burmese pythons have been removed from Florida's ecosystem.