Next Up (For Real THIS TIME): #2 seed Anaconda (Eunectes murinus) vs. #3 seed Komodo Dragon (Varanus komodoensis) #2018MMM
World's Heaviest Snake vs World's Largest Lizard #2018MMM 
Komodo Dragons have "ziphodont" teeth, meaning they are laterally compressed, sharp, & with serrated edges. In 1928, Burden described what they could do (other than give you nightmares) #2018MMM
Although native to South America, semi-aquatic Green Anacondas are a desired "pet" in the exotic animal trade #2018MMM
But folks sometimes grow less enamored with keeping a snake that can grow nearly 25+ feet & 500+ lbs (Feldman et al. 2015) & release them into local parks & waterways #2018MMM s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.d…
The release of non-native plants and animals into fragile ecosystems is a major threat to environmental and species conservation #2018MMM onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11…
Indeed pythons- the LONGEST snake- have become invasive in the Florida Everglades #2018MMM conejousd.org/Portals/49/Dep…
The Everglades is a World Heritage site, and the only World Heritage-designated site in the United States to be IN DANGER #2018MMM whc.unesco.org/en/list/76
But its not only pythons that are invading Florida... GREEN ANACONDA has been showing up in Brevard County... #2018MMM floridatoday.com/story/news/loc…
Brevard County... home of the world famous Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex at Cape Canaveral, "one of ten National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) field centers & the primary launch center of human spaceflight." #2018MMM
Hmmmm... SPACE flight... #2018MMM
hahahahaah psych/sike. Tonight's battle won't be in space... #2018MMM
Tonight's battle take's place in Yaguas National Park, in Peru’s Amazon Rainforest, & the nation's newest national park! #2018MMM earther.com/perus-new-nati…
Appreciating the tropical location, if not so much the dense, damp rainforest, Komodo Dragon lumbers along, assailed by new... delicious smells... and something almost familiar! #2018MMM
Under a bush, in a water-logged depression he sees... a DEER BUTT! #2018MMM
Komodo Dragon won't have to do any ambush attack, the deer is already dead! Komodo dragon slops over to chow down! #2018MMM
To discover on the other end of the deer is an anaconda trying to swallow the 70 kg deer, but the antlers are too wide & are hung up in the Anaconda's throat!!!! (see reports from Rivas) #2018MMM
Green Anaconda backs off the deer, slipping her lower jaw back into place #LetMeClearMyThroat -DJ Kool #2018MMM
Komodo "bites the stag, rocking back & forth on braced legs throwing all his weight into each backward movement so that the teeth literally saw & cut their way through the hide & flesh" of the deer (adapted from Burden 1928) #2018MMM
Anaconda wraps around the stag to drag it away from the Komodo Dragon- but the lizard bites down & grinds teeth on the anaconda's tail! #2018MMM
The Komodo Dragon's bite grip stops the snake from slithering away (Frey et al. 2009)- the snake whips around & strikes Komodo Dragon, wrapping her coils around the audacious 65kg lizard! (Jessop et al. 2006) #2018MMM
In the shallows, Anaconda throws a loop over the dorsal surface of the Komodo Dragon & wraps her posterior body and tail around the Komodo Dragon's left hind leg (as anacondas can do when battling caimen). (Rivas 1999). #2018MMM
Komodo Dragon still has Anaconda's tail in his venomous grip, his bite forces are adapted to hold on and keep prey from pulling away! (Fry et al. 2009) #2018MMM
The Anaconda wraps tighter, pulling Komodo Dragon's head back toward it's hindquarters, snake squeezes relentlessly (adapted from Rivas 1999) #2018MMM
Anaconda FLIPS the Komodo Dragon upside down into the water, squeezing squeezing squeezing (adapted from Rivas 1999) #2018MMM
wshchkkkk!!!!! #2018MMM
"Constriction by anacondas can produce structural damage to prey in the form of broken bones & dislocated vertebrae" expediting death #SubduingBehavior #2018MMM researchgate.net/publication/27…
And now the anaconda has a an even better meal as there are no antlers to snag in her throat. #2018MMM
ANACONDA CONSTRICTS KOMODO DRAGON!!! #2018MMM
and... what's that... anaconda is bleeding!
The wound from the Komodo Dragon's venomous bite, the blood is not coagulating! (Fry et al. 2009)!
But there's something else on the green scales near the rivulets of blood...
TARDIGRADE #AltAdvances #2018MMM
The wound from the Komodo Dragon's venomous bite, the blood is not coagulating! (Fry et al. 2009)!
But there's something else on the green scales near the rivulets of blood...
TARDIGRADE #AltAdvances #2018MMM
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