Captured 17-Foot-Long Python Was About to Have 73 Babies

By Laura Geggel, Associate Editor | April 8, 2019 03:44pm ET

Wildlife officials have captured a 17-foot-long (5.1 meters) Burmese python and a mother-to-be in Florida's Big Cypress National Preserve — the longest python ever found in the preserve, which neighbors the Everglades.

But even though her size and her weight of 140 lbs. (63 kilograms) likely puts her in the top 10% of the largest wild pythons in Florida, the number of eggs found inside her — 73 in all — is absolutely flooring, said David Penning, an assistant professor of biology at Missouri Southern State University, who was not involved with the snake's capture.

"I would say that's far above average," Penning told Live Science. "A normal quantity to expect is probably a couple dozen, maybe 40 or 50. And that would be a good year if you were trying to breed these animals." [Image Gallery: Snakes of the World]

Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) are an invasive species in Florida. They likely got into the wild not only because of pet owners who decided to release them, but also from hurricanes that aided in their escape from captivity. Given that they're invasive, why are pythons so successful in the Sunshine State?

Mothers such as this one are part of the answer, Penning said. Now that it's springtime, mother snakes are laying eggs. These 4- to 5-inch-long (10 to 13 centimeters) oval eggs take up so much space inside the mother, that she has to stop eating because she literally can't fit anything else inside her body, Penning said. Even her organs get scrunched and pushed out of the way.

"It's impressive," he said. "It's like shoving a bunch of pool balls into a sock, but there's just more than what seems like [the snake] can fit."

Read on

Bounty Hunter Kills Gargantuan Burmese Python, Gets $375, Earns Our Undying Gratitude

By Brandon Specktor, Senior Writer | November 8, 2018 03:55pm ET

There are snakes, and then there are "SSSSNNNNAAAAAAAAKES!!!!"

Florida resident and professional python bounty hunter Kyle Penniston caught and killed one such SSSSNNNNAAAAAAAAKE earlier this week in the Florida Everglades, according to a news release from the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD). The gargantuan Burmese python measured 17 feet 5 inches (5.3 meters) long and weighed about 120 lbs. (54 kilograms). It is survived by many children's nightmares. [7 Shocking Snake Stories]

Penniston caught and "humanely euthanized" the snake as part of the SFWMD's Python Elimination Program, which pays a team of 25 mercenary snake hunters to track and kill invasive pythons and deposit the reptiles at designated drop-off locations around several counties in southern Florida. (The program website does not specify what "humane" euthanasia means, but does say that firearm use on snakes is permitted, consistent with local, state and federal regulations.)

Strange News Snapshot: Week of Nov. 4, 2018

What's weird in science news this week? A "perfect pizza" equation, beatboxing in an MRI machine, and a museum showcasing the world's most disgusting foods.

Burmese pythons are an invasive species in the Everglades (Florida's extremely biodiverse wetland preserve that spans 1.5 million acres, or 1 million hectares). They were likely introduced to the ecosystem by careless pet owners, the SFWMD wrote. These snakes breed rapidly and pose a serious threat to the area's birds, rodents, deer and even alligators.

Read on

Full Monty python: Florida snake swallows deer heavier than itself

31.5lb invasive Burmese python swallowed 35lb fawn

Researcher: ‘It’s surreal to see that in the field’

Associated Press in Naples, Florida

Sat 3 Mar 2018 20.03 GMTLast modified on Sun 4 Mar 2018 21.37 GMT

Researchers studying invasive Burmese pythons in Florida recently came upon something they had never seen before: an 11ft python that had consumed an entire deer that weighed more than the snake itself.

The wildlife biologists stumbled upon the bloated snake in Collier Seminole state park. When they moved it, it began regurgitating a white-tailed deer fawn.

Biologist Ian Bartoszek told the Naples Daily News the fawn weighed 35lb; the snake 31.5lb.

“We were sitting there just trying to process that an animal this size could get its head around what turned out to be a deer,” Bartoszek said. “It’s surreal to see that in the field.”

Bartoszek said it was the largest python-to-prey weight difference he had measured.

Burmese pythons, which can grow to nearly 20ft, were brought to south Florida as pets in the late 1970s. Released into the wild, they have become a problematic invasive species.

White-tailed deer are an important food source for Florida’s endangered panthers, so the researchers are concerned the pervasive snakes could also affect the health of the big cats.

If the snake had been left in the wild, it would have digested the entire deer, Bartoszek said. The predator-to-prey size ratio, he said, stunned his team.

Read on  

How declining mammal populations in the Florida Everglades are linked to the invasive Burmese python

October 31, 2017

New research published in Biology Letters looks at how declining mammal populations in the Florida Everglades is linked to the invasive Burmese python. We talked to one of the authors, Nathan Burkett-Cadena from the University of Florida, about his research and the repercussions of what he and his co-authors found.

Tell us about yourself and your research

I'm an Assistant Professor at the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, a Research and Extension Campus of the University of Florida. My lab focuses on understanding why each mosquito species bites the animals that it does, when and where it does, and how that interaction drives the transmission of mosquito-borne viruses.

What is your article about?

This article is about how a vector mosquito, Culex cedecei, has shifted from feeding upon a variety of mammals to feeding almost exclusively on certain rodents in parts of the Everglades where the invasive Burmese python is established. The Burmese python is implicated in decimating populations of rabbits, deer, raccoons and other mammals. Rodents are the only mammals that have persisted in python-established areas, probably because of their high natural densities and explosive reproduction. Now that rabbits, raccoons and deer are all but eliminated, C. cedecei is "forced" to feed on rodents, particularly the hispid cotton rat. The hispid cotton rat just happens to be one of the only known natural hosts of Everglades virus, an encephalitis-causing pathogen. C. cedecei is the only mosquito known to transmit Everglades virus. As this mosquito feeds more and more on hispid cotton rats, this could increase the prevalence of Everglades virus and human risk to exposure.

Read more at: 

Burmese python’s hungry escapades may have consequences for human health

Date:  October 4, 2017

Source:  University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences

As the large, invasive Burmese python eats its way through south Florida's mammals, the mosquitoes in the area have fewer types of animals to bite. Now, more mosquitoes are drawing blood from a rat that carries a virus dangerous to humans.

One of the only mammals left in the Everglades for mosquitoes to bite is the hispid cotton rat, a rodent which is one of the only known hosts of a mosquito-borne virus called the Everglades virus. The virus causes fever, headache and even encephalitis in rare cases.

Continued  

A snake-catching tribe from India is helping Florida clean up its loose pythons-Bringing in the experts. – via Herp Digest

JOSH HRALA, JAN 27, 2017, Science Alert

To help with their growing Burmese python problem, officials from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) have brought in the big guns: members of India's Irula people, who make their living hunting snakes in their homeland.

Accompanied by hunting dogs, the tribesmen and park officials have so far caught 13 rogue snakes in eight days, including one female that measured a whopping 4.9 metres (16 feet) long.

"Since the Irula have been so successful in their homeland at removing pythons, we are hoping they can teach people in Florida some of these skills," said Kristen Sommers, leader of the FWC’s Wildlife Impact Management Section.

"We are working with our partners to improve our ability to find and capture pythons in the wild. These projects are two of several new efforts focused on the removal of these snakes.”

Florida has been struggling to prevent introduced Burmese pythons from invading sections of the state for quite a while now.

The National Parks Service (NPS) says Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) – one of the largest species of snake in the world – were introduced to the delicate Floridian ecosystem after pet owners either lost their snakes or intentionally released them into the wild.

Burmese pythons are a native Southeast Asian species, and since being introduced to the wilds of Florida, they've became a formidable invasive species in the region, thanks to a lack of predators.

"By preying on native wildlife and competing with other native predators, pythons are seriously impacting the natural order of south Florida's ecological communities," say NPS officials.

"The continued proliferation of Burmese pythons – and the continued introduction of new foreign species – can further threaten many of the endangered plants and animals we're working diligently to protect.”

Between 2002 and 2012, over 2000 pythons have been removed from the Everglades and the surrounding area, but the problem is getting worse.

The FWC has now turned to the people who are revered as some of the best snake catchers in the world: the Irula.

The Irula are an ethnic population from India’s Tamil Nadu and Kerala states, whose prime source of income is catching rats and snakes – two creatures that cause a lot of trouble for people in their homeland.

Since these individuals have grown up and made their livings hunting and catching snakes, Florida officials asked for their help in fighting the problem in the US.

According to the FWC, the plan is to use specially trained dogs to sniff out the snakes in the hardest hit areas. Once a snake is spotted, the Irula can capture it, and share their techniques with officials and the public.

"Dogs are helping to identify areas where pythons are hiding, paving the way for human searchers to target that area for removal," said Christina Romagosa, from Auburn University’s Canine Performance Sciences Program.

The good news is that the plan has been working so far. The FWC reports that, after just eight days on job, the team has already captured 13 snakes, including four from the hard-hit Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge on North Key Largo.

"It is outstanding that they have been able to remove pythons from Key Largo," said biologist Frank Mazzotti, from the University of Florida.

"And to get four pythons, including a 16-foot [4.8-metre] female, is just incredible.”

The partnership between the Irula and the wildlife team is only just getting started. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out, but if their current rate of capture is any indicator of the future, it seems like a perfect match.

How Burmese pythons grow and shrink after eating

May 19, 2015

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

The changes that occur to the anatomy and physiology of a Burmese python is controlled by a series of alterations in gene expression, scientists from the University of Texas at Arlington, the University of Colorado, and the University of Alabama report in a new study.

Their research, published earlier this month in the journal Physiological Genomics, analyzed the changes that occur to the snake species in the days after it first ingests a meal, and as the authors wrote, their work could shed new light on how vertebrates control organ growth and function.

Even though the Burmese python’s has a distinct body shape when compared to other vertebrates (including humans), its organs function in much the same way. As a result, findings from snakes can be adapted to better understand how the human body works, and might lead to the discovery of new ways to treat a variety of diseases, the authors explained in a statement.

They added that their study is the first to associate the extreme changes of the Burmese python’s body, and its intestines in particular, to changes in gene expression. Furthermore, they claimed that their paper is the first to demonstrate just how rapidly those genetic changes occurred.

Potential model for studying intestinal cancer

Three days after a Burmese python’s eats, its organs expand to nearly twice their original size, and the creature’s metabolism and digestive processes increase at least 10-fold. Ten days after eating, the meal is fully digested and the changes to the snake’s body are reversed, allowing it to return to normal size and its physiology to stabilize.

Read more at

Burmese python habitat use patterns may help control efforts

Date:April 28, 2015

Source:United States Geological Survey

Summary:The largest and longest Burmese python tracking study of its kind -- here or in its native range -- is providing researchers and resource managers new information that may help target control efforts of this invasive snake.

Continued ...

Burmese pythons pose little risk to people in Everglades, study suggests

Date:

February 28, 2014

Source:

United States Geological Survey

Summary:

The estimated tens of thousands of Burmese pythons now populating the Everglades present a low risk to people in the park, according to a new study. The human risk assessment looked at five incidents that involved humans and Burmese pythons over a 10-year period in Everglades National Park. All five incidents involved pythons striking at biologists who were conducting research in flooded wetlands.

Read on

Florida State Record 87 Eggs in Largest Python from Everglades

ScienceDaily (Aug. 13, 2012) — University of Florida researchers curating a 17-foot-7-inch Burmese python, the largest found in Florida, discovered 87 eggs in the snake, also a state record.

Scientists at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the UF campus examined the internal anatomy of the 164.5-pound snake on August 10. The animal was brought to the Florida Museum from Everglades National Park as part of a long-term project with the U.S. Department of the Interior to research methods for managing the state's invasive Burmese python problem. Following scientific investigation, the snake will be mounted for exhibition at the museum for about five years, and then returned for exhibition at Everglades National Park.

"This thing is monstrous, it's about a foot wide," said Florida Museum herpetology collection manager Kenneth Krysko. "It means these snakes are surviving a long time in the wild, there's nothing stopping them and the native wildlife are in trouble."

Krysko said the snake was in excellent health and its stomach contained feathers that will be identified by museum ornithologists. Burmese pythons are known to prey on native birds, deer, bobcats, alligators and other large animals.

Continued:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120813155523.htm

Feds Likely To Face Legal Battle Over Burmese Python Ban from USARK – Herp Digest

By Chris Sweeney  Jun. 21 2012 Broward/Palm Beach New Times

Most of us rejoiced earlier this year when Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar announced a new set of restrictions on the much loathed, much feared, much hyped Burmese python.  

But six months after the feds announced a ban on the importation and interstate sale of Burmese pythons and three other snake species, the reptile industry is starting to mount a resistance that could very well culminate in a costly lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

This week the United States Association of Reptile Keepers said that it is taking up funds to prepare for a judicial joust over the right to breed and sell these beastly snakes to whomever is willing to pay top dollar. 

"There are a few legal avenues we are exploring first that may bring satisfaction without the need for a lawsuit," says Andrew Wyatt, president of the industry group. "The remedy of last resort is to file a federal lawsuit."

Under the current ban, reptile farmers are free to raise and sell Burmese pythons, so long as the snakes don't make their way over state lines. Wyatt says this is troublesome because reptiles are a multi-million-dollar industry, and breeders sell their snakes to zoos, research facilities and pet shops around the world.  

For example, if a breeder in North Carolina gets an order from a lab in France, it might not be possible to complete the sale because there's a good chance the snake would pass through a FedEx facility outside of North Carolina, say in Georgia for example. If that were to happen, the seller would then be in violation of federal law and could be hit with stiff fines and potential jail time. 

Florida already had a set of rules governing the snakes, and the reptile industry isn't pleased that the feds are pushing in on a problem that affects only a few counties in Florida. Down here, Burmese can't be acquired as pets, and only registered, licensed dealers, researchers and exhibitors are allowed to own the reptiles. 

Wyatt makes no attempt to conceal that USARK is an industry group putting its financial interests first.  

"We are an industry group trying to keep our businesses going," he says. "There's nothing wrong with farming livestock for profit. We produce high quality, captive-bred reptiles."

Burmese pythons have captured headlines in recent years for allegedly terrorizing the Everglades. One study suggested the snakes decimated mammal populations in the Everglades, but critics said the data were flawed and the study should have never been published.

It remains unclear exactly how many of the snakes remain in Florida; estimates range from a few thousand to more than 100,000. 

In the recent past, Scott Hardin of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said it's not likely that Burmese pythons pose any significant threat, and that wild hogs are the most problematic invasive species in the Sunshine State. 

Wyatt alleges that "a small cabal of scientists has sensationalized the threat Burmese pythons pose to South Florida and exaggerated it to secure federal funding for research." He also expresses concern that a ban on shipping these snakes across state lines does absolutely nothing to address the remnant population of pythons in the Everglades. 

USARK asserts that Fish and Wildlife has "exceeded its Lacey Act authority in terms of the breadth of the restrictions" it placed on the four snake species. It's now taking up donations to challenge the law. 

Wyatt says the group plans to file a lawsuit by the end of the year if the issue is not resolved through other means.

Exploring the Python Dichotomy - via Herp Digst

From the Orianne Society, 5/5/12

A Tale of Two Populations: Burmese Pythons of Bangladesh May Be Dwindling in their Native Environment While Thriving as Invaders Half a World Away in the Everglades

Author: Shahriar Caesar Rahman,

Department of Environmental Science, Independent University, Bangladesh and Center for Advanced Research in Natural Resources and Management (CARINAM), Bangladesh.

Burmese pythons (Python molurus bivittatus) in the Florida Everglades have been the subject of intensive scientific study and media scrutiny in recent years as concern grows about their impact as invaders. It is suspected that the non-native pythons pose a serious threat to native ecosystems in Florida, not just in their current range but far beyond. The impact of pythons and their potential range expansion in other parts of the United States is not clearly understood, partly because of a lack of knowledge concerning their ecology and behavior in their native range.

A half a world away, Burmese pythons remain one of the least-studied python species on the planet. Despite their tremendous popularity in the pet industry, Burmese pythons in native Asia are something of a mystery. Drastically understudied in almost all aspects of their biology, very little is known about the Burmese python, their ecology, and natural history in Asia.

Published knowledge on the ecology and behavior of free-ranging Burmese pythons in their native range is limited to studies of their basking and breeding behavior in Keoladeo National Park, Rajsthan, India; a 24-day radio telemetric study of a single individual in Hong Kong; and incidental natural history observations. Detailed field study on Burmese pythons is long overdue.

With that in mind, our research team embarked on a field study of Burmese pythons in Bangladesh's Lawachara National Park in May of 2011 with initial financial support from The Orianne Society and The Explorers Club.

Both subspecies of Asian rock pythons, Indian Python (Python molurus molurus) and Burmese Python (Python molurus bivittatus), occur in Bangladesh. Once common throughout the country, pythons are now fragmented into small and disjunct populations. They are now mostly found in the Sundarban mangrove forest in the southwest and the mixed-evergreen forests in the northeast and southeast of the country.

Habitat destruction is one major cause of their decline. Indiscriminate killing — out of fear or for consumption — is another.

Lawachara National Park, a 1,250 hectares mixed-evergreen forest, located in the northeast of Bangladesh, falls within the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot, which supports some of the most unique and diverse biota on the planet. Most of the original forest cover has been altered or substantially removed by rotation since the early 1900s, with only some small, remnant patches of primary forest left inside the park.

During our first year of study, we conducted intensive field surveys in this forest-plantation mosaic landscape to collect baseline data on the python population and create a base for a longer-term ecological study. Our research team also spent hundreds of hours in the field and systematically documented more than 500 individual snakes and identified 35 snake species from Lawachara National Park and the surrounding tea estates. Several of the snake species were recorded for the first time from Bangladesh.

Despite the adversity herpetofauna may be facing—from indiscriminate killing, road mortality, deforestation, and degradation of the habitat—Lawachara appears to be a snake hotspot in this region.

Surrounded by tea plantations and human habitats on almost all sides, Lawachara pythons are opportunistically captured and consumed by the indigenous tribal people living adjacent to the forest. Pythons are also often found on the tea estates, particularly in porcupine and pangolin burrows. During our survey, we found an abandoned python nest as well as four python hatchlings in different parts of the tea plantation, indicating that pythons use the plantation areas for breeding purposes.

This summer, we plan to implant radio transmitters and miniature temperature loggers on several adult pythons to collect data on movement, ranging patterns, and thermal preference of free-ranging pythons.

One of our future research objectives is to answer some important scientific questions: How do pythons react to thermal variation throughout the year? How much time do they spend basking in winter, and do they use different areas of their activity range in cool months versus warm months? How does thermal biology affect detection probability?

The knowledge gained from this study could be crucial for many reasons. Any information that sheds lights on the natural history and ecology of pythons could provide knowledge to help understand their impact on the Everglades and potential range expansion in North America. Our study site in Bangladesh is at nearly the same latitude as southern Florida, which could allow for the collection of useful comparative data to help understand the invasion process.

Also, Burmese pythons are considered Endangered in much of their native range. The lack of basic information makes conservation and management decisions difficult at best, and possibly inappropriate. Collecting information about their home-range size, habitat use, thermoregulatory behavior (e.g. basking) and other aspects of life history will be vital for conservation and management of this species in Bangladesh or anywhere in their native range.