On June 22, 2022, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida which is an organization dedicated to protecting the environment, said that they had caught a 215-pound female Burmese python, the heaviest one captured in Florida.
The python was captured in Everglades National Park. People want to capture the pythons because it is an invasive species of snakes that come from Southeast Asia. An invasive species is a kind of animal that is not supposed to be in that specific environment.
This female python broke the previous record for heaviest captured python. It had 122 eggs inside of it which was the largest number of eggs ever found in a female python. It also had a whitetail deer inside its stomach, which is the same animal eaten by the endangered Florida panthers ate and the Florida panthers live in the Everglades too.
To track the female python, the scientist had to use a male python called Dion, who is attracted to the large females. When Dion went to his usual spot to find female pythons, the scientist caught 4 pythons.
Ian Bartoszek was one of the people who discovered the python. One of the things he said during the discovery was “The removal of female pythons plays a critical role in disrupting the breeding cycle of these apex predators that are wreaking havoc and taking food sources from other native species.”
When the snakes came to the United States, they were exotic pets. The snakes have a tremendous ability to reproduce so when Hurricane Andrew came to Florida and destroyed a python breeding facility, the Everglades became overgrown with snakes. Officials struggled to remove the pythons. They tried many ways to solve the snake problem. There was even a Python Challenge to get rid of the pythons.
The python was captured in Everglades National Park. People want to capture the pythons because it is an invasive species of snakes that come from Southeast Asia. An invasive species is a kind of animal that is not supposed to be in that specific environment.
This female python broke the previous record for heaviest captured python. It had 122 eggs inside of it which was the largest number of eggs ever found in a female python. It also had a whitetail deer inside its stomach, which is the same animal eaten by the endangered Florida panthers ate and the Florida panthers live in the Everglades too.
To track the female python, the scientist had to use a male python called Dion, who is attracted to the large females. When Dion went to his usual spot to find female pythons, the scientist caught 4 pythons.
Ian Bartoszek was one of the people who discovered the python. One of the things he said during the discovery was “The removal of female pythons plays a critical role in disrupting the breeding cycle of these apex predators that are wreaking havoc and taking food sources from other native species.”
When the snakes came to the United States, they were exotic pets. The snakes have a tremendous ability to reproduce so when Hurricane Andrew came to Florida and destroyed a python breeding facility, the Everglades became overgrown with snakes. Officials struggled to remove the pythons. They tried many ways to solve the snake problem. There was even a Python Challenge to get rid of the pythons.
