Watch: Massive Florida Alligator Makes Quick Work of Giant Invasive Python

Two kings of the swamp battling for supremacy.

A wildlife photographer captured the incredible moment an alligator took down a massive burmese python in the Florida Everglades.

Alligators have long called Florida home and have been the unequivocal king of the waterways. Florida is home to an estimated 1.3 million alligators, the second-highest population in the country behind Louisiana. The largest lake in Florida, Lake Okeechobee, has a a confirmed 9,000 alligators living in it, with estimates as high as 30,000 in the single lake.

These seemingly prehistoric creatures grow to well over 10 feet and the really big ones top the scales at over 1,000 pounds. They feed mainly on fish, frogs, snakes, turtles, and even other alligators when the opportunity presents itself.

While best known for the absolutely violent thrashing they can put on a poor defenseless animal, gators are very quiet for most of the time,  swimming near silently in the water with just their eyes and nostrils above the surface. They also have an impressive lung capacity and can remain underwater for up to 24 hours if necessary, although dives in the 20-30 minute range are much more common.

Floridians have largely learned to coexist with the animals, though they’re not the only wildlife in the Sunshine State that you have to watch out for.

In recent years, another invasive species has seen a huge surge in population and is now competing with gators for their place on top of the food chain. Burmese pythons were introduced to the Sunshine State through a combination of exotic animal trades gone wrong and the release of pets into the wild, and to say they took to the environment well would be the understatement of the century.

Due to their reclusive nature and the fact they tend to reside in the deepest of the deep swamps, a real count of their population is hard to get, but researchers estimate that it’s at least 300,000 but may be up to a million. Females will lay around 50 to 100 eggs at a time, meaning the number of these creatures is growing rapidly – and exponentially.

These snakes can grow to be close to 20 feet long, weigh close to 200 pounds, and can eat pretty much anything they can wrap their thick bodies around – including alligators.

Naturally, there’s going to be a lot of head-to-head competition between these two swamp beasts and fortunately for us, one photographer captured it on camera so we can watch the battle play out right before our eyes without having to gear up and trek through the Everglades.

Taken near the Shark Valley visitors center, wildlife photographer Ewan Wilson spotted the moment a massive alligator took on the large python.

You’ve got to watch it go down to understand the magnitude of the moment… words just don’t do it justice.

Gotta love when the good guys win.

Although pythons are really cool in their own right, they’re wreaking havoc on the Florida ecosystem – so it’s nice to see the gators stepping up to help curb the problem.

Louisiana Man Jumps In Alligator-Infested Waters

Jumping in alligator infested waters ALWAYS sounds like a bad idea. But stuffing your pockets with chicken and THEN jumping into alligator-infested waters? Insane.

Well, for one Louisiana man, that’s exactly what he did.

Check it out: