It's not every day that you see a headline with the words "exploding python." However, the BBC recently ran a story about just this.
According to the story, "An unusual clash between a 6-foot (1.8m) alligator and a 13-foot (3.9m) python has left two of the deadliest predators dead in Florida's swamps.
The Burmese python tried to swallow its fearsome rival whole but then exploded.
The remains of the two giant reptiles were found by astonished rangers in the Everglades National Park.
The rangers say the find suggests that non-native Burmese pythons might even challenge alligators' leading position in the food chain in the swamps.
The python's remains were found with the victim's tail protruding from its burst midsection. The head of the python was missing.
"Encounters like that are almost never seen in the wild ... And here we are," Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida wildlife professor, was quoted as saying by The Associated Press news agency.
"They were probably evenly matched in size. If the python got a good grip on the alligator before the alligator got a good grip on him, he could win," Professor Mazzotti said.
He said the alligator may have clawed at the python's stomach, leading it to burst.
"Clearly, if they can kill an alligator they can kill other species," Prof Mazzotti said.
He said that there had been four known encounters between the two species in the past. In the other cases, the alligator won or the battle was an apparent draw.
Burmese pythons - many of whom have been dumped by their owners - have thrived in the wet and hot climate of Florida's swamps over the past 20 years."
Across the pond in Switzerland, The New York Times ran an interesting story about the cat fur trade.
In the story, Isabelle Nydegger describes how she began noticing that her cats were disappearing.
She became convinced, the story says, that her cats were shot by hunters and sold to tanners for their fur, which was used in garments and blankets. The cat fur trade is still legal in Switzerland.
According to the story, "while it is legal in Switzerland to shoot feral cats as well as domestic ones that stray more than 200 yards from their homes, it is not clear how many cats are hunted every year here and across the border in France, where residents have also complained about disappearing felines. One government official put the number at a couple of dozen. Luc Barthassat, a legislator with the Christian Democratic People's Party, said about 2,000, but members of S O S Chats, an advocacy group, say tens of thousands are killed.
Estimates of the value of each pelt vary wildly. Mr. Barthassat said tanners had told him that they pay only about $5. But animal rights advocates say that hunters make much more than that, noting that some blankets made from 10 pelts sell at retail for more than $1,700.
But the numbers almost seemed beside the fact this fall, after a series of TV reports created a public furor. Three TV news crews from Switzerland and France conducted hidden-camera investigations that caught tanners who had officially denied trading in cat fur actively doing so and, in at least one case, explaining that cat meat was also available."
These two stories may be quite different, but they share one thing: it's not always humans that make for the craziest headlines.
