Alligator Hunter Shocked When He Finds What's In Monster's Stomach

Alligators are truly deadly creatures even when they're small, but occasionally they can grow to be terrifyingly large. An Alabama hunter caught one of these oversized creatures during a statewide gator hunt.

He knew it was big, but when he cut it open, he was shocked to see what it was capable of eating.

After the massive animal was caught and killed, it was given to taxidermist Ken Owens to be preserved. Owens says he's seen all kinds of animals in his career, but he's never seen an alligator of this size.

He believes it was the largest alligator ever killed in the hunt.

He flipped the gigantic reptile on its back and noticed a bulge in its belly. When he cut the gator open, he was shocked to see just what an alligator that big was capable of.

Owen found the remains of a female deer.

The 115-lb deer was not in pieces; it had been swallowed whole.

“I always thought that once an alligator killed something that it ate it a piece at a time,” Owens said.

“I can’t imagine how it got ahold of that adult deer and ate it in one piece like that. It’s unbelievable.”

The deer was partially digested, but in a post-mortem examination, Owens could tell by the jawbone approximately how old and how big it was. He estimates it was about 3 years old and average size.

Imagining a creature with deadly sharp teeth coming out of the water and swallowing a full-grown deer in one gulp is terrifying. Imagine if it had come across a human by the side of the water that day instead of a deer.

Alligators had to be tough; they're ancient creatures that were around before the dinosaurs, and that survived after dinosaurs were wiped out. The key to their survival is that they're such successful apex predators.

They pretty much are dominant in every ecosystem in which they're found.

The alligator's only match so far has been man, but man's advantage is having weapons and protective gear. If it were just one-on-one in the wild, meeting a beast like this, the majority of men wouldn't stand a chance.

Humans at one point nearly hunted alligators to the point of extinction. Thanks to conservation efforts, they managed to come back and are thriving in the wild.

And while that’s good news, the reality for people in some states is that they just have to share their neighborhoods and watering holes with the deadly beasts.

Sometimes that can be a little too close for comfort. Florida families, for example, have woken up to find alligators hanging out in their backyard swimming pools, or people who live near canals might be surprised by one as they're walking their dog.

Even in Disney World, alligators pose a threat. One gator snatched a two-year-old child who was ankle-deep in water on a beach one night.

The father fought off the gator bravely but the boy was taken under. His body was found, drowned, the next day.

Source: AWM
Photo: AWM