Cannibal alligator! A huge 20-foot alligator was caught on camera “eating” a smaller love rival on a lawn in Florida.
- The reptile was seen walking across the lawn in the city of Lakeland on March 8.
- In his mouth, he held a still moving two-meter alligator, which he was going to eat.
- It is believed that the victim was a “love rival” who was unfortunately caught.
- Experts say that animals often eat smaller alligators, especially during the mating season.
A huge 20-foot alligator was seen “eating” a smaller love rival in front of shocked passers-by in Florida.
The beast was seen on March 8 lifting writhing prey into the air and leaving with it on a lawn in Lakeland, near Tampa.
The incident, filmed by Julia Smith on video, plunged her into awe, as the animal effortlessly held a two-meter opponent in its jaws.
The footage shows the giant reptile crossing a lawn path with its unfortunate prey still writhing in its mouth.
A woman watching is heard screaming, “Oh my God, put that alligator down,” but perhaps unsurprisingly, the creature doesn’t.
He continues to slowly slide down the grassy slope towards the pool of water, sliding on his belly for the last few seconds.
Sharing the video on her Facebook page, Ms Smith said: “So this happened this morning. This grandfather is about 20 feet long. The alligator he eats is about 6 feet tall.”
In the comments below her, she said her booty didn’t live long after the video ended.
She said, “Oh, he was alive, okay, but once he got to another body of water, it wasn’t long. Babies are tiny. This six-foot alligator has been in his mouth for several years.”
She added, “I thought 10 and 8 feet were big. This guy is huge.
‘Also mating [it’s] season, and obviously if they feel threatened by another male while chasing a female, they will go after another.
On March 8, a 20-foot alligator was spotted walking on the lawn in Lakeland, near Tampa, Florida.
In its mouth it carried the still moving body of a small alligator which, despite being 6 feet long, could not escape.
“It also turned out that males also kill their cubs. I never needed all this knowledge.
Alligators are a common sight in Florida, where they often inhabit freshwater areas, including golf courses, as these areas provide an abundance of food.
They are opportunistic predators and can kill larger prey such as deer and bears, as well as other alligators.
One alligator expert said that such vision was actually very common, and animals eating individuals of the same species were “completely normal behavior.”
Julie Smith, who filmed the video, said that while the poor victim was still alive, she was killed shortly thereafter.
Coleman M. Sheehy III, who works in the Florida Museum of Natural History’s herpetology department, told Newsweek it’s “well known” that alligators eat each other.
“However, the occurrence of this can vary greatly, partly due to what other food options are available, and partly due to whether large alligators have access to smaller alligators,” he said.
He said smaller alligators tend to avoid areas where larger ones live because of the danger they pose.
He added: “Males become very territorial during the mating season and this can lead to more aggression than usual towards other male alligators.”
“This, in turn, can lead to cannibalism if one of them is small enough to be eaten by the larger one.”