Pile of Burmese Pythons Found Mating in Florida: 'Most People's Worst Nightmare'
upstart writes:
In total, 11 pythons were caught, with one exceeding 16 feet [4.9m] in length:
What would have been a bad dream for many was a massive win for the Florida wildlife experts who discovered a 7-foot-wide, 500-lb. pile of invasive Burmese pythons.
The snakes, which are not indigenous to the region and have significantly disrupted Florida's ecosystem for more than four decades, were discovered on Feb. 21 in a marsh near Naples, per the Miami Herald.
[...] According to the Miami Herald, the pythons were located using novel implants researchers inserted in male "scout snakes." Once the snakes were set free, those tracking them could follow a signal emitted from the reptiles into remote areas.
500 pounds of python caught when mating rituals revealed in Florida marsh, team says:
Burmese pythons are native to Southeast Asia and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission suspects they made their way into the wilds of Florida as exotic pets that escaped or were intentionally released.
Necropsies have revealed they are eating at least 24 species of mammal, 47 species of bird and three reptile species in South Florida, according to University of Florida research.
In one case, a 31.5-pound python ate a 35-pound deer. "We see the remains of deer inside pythons often. This is concerning and it should sound an alarm." Bartoszek says.
Even more frightening is the fact they may be expanding their turf to the north and showing up in seemingly impossible places. In 2017, a python was found in open water nearly 15 miles off the coast of southwest Florida, Bartoszek wrote in a scientific note published in Herpetological Review.
The conservancy - one of Florida's largest environmental organizations - was among the first to take action, launching a ground war that has lasted more than a decade.
[...] "It's a big Everglades. I'm not declaring victory by any stretch, but we are winning key battles. We feel like we are attempting to hold the line around Naples while we all wait for additional control tools to develop," Bartoszek says.
"There's an area where we had four active scouts and they have not found us a female in that sector this season. ... We are cautiously optimistic, you can't take (1,300) snakes out of the equation and not make an impact."
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