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Friday, March 29, 2024

In record, Florida biologists capture nearly 100-kg Burmese python with 122 eggs

In a spectacular research moment, biologists captured the biggest Burmese python ever recorded in the state of Florida, USA. The humongous snake caught by the Conservancy of Southwest Florida measures 18 feet in length and weighs a whopping 215 pounds (approximately 98 kg), starting some serious conversations about the conservation of natural habitats in the American state.

The conservation agency announced the record-breaking development in a press conference Thursday, displaying the female reptile, which is also pregnant with a record-breaking number of eggs. According to a press statement released by the agency, during the necropsy, researchers found a total of 122 developing eggs within the snake’s abdomen.

“This finding sets a new limit for the highest number of eggs a female python can potentially produce in a breeding cycle,” the statement read.

“Furthermore, an assessment of the snake’s digestive contents found hoof cores, determining an adult white-tailed deer – a primary food source of the endangered Florida panther – to be the snake’s last meal,” the researchers said. The agency stressed how the new developments highlighted the continued impact of the invasive species, an apex predator from Southeast Asia, exploding in the wild in Florida altering ecosystems by snacking on a wide variety of native species.

While the invasive species was introduced in the US as an exotic pet in the 1970s, it is known for rapid reproduction beyond people’s homes and capturing the wild, leading to depletion of surrounding native wildlife. “The removal of female pythons plays a critical role in disrupting the breeding cycle of these apex predators that are wreaking havoc on the Everglades ecosystem and taking food sources from other native species,” Ian Bartoszek, wildlife biologist and environmental science project manager, explained.

While the removal is crucial, it is not exactly easy and teams have had to place baits to trap the females. “How do you find the needle in the haystack? You could use a magnet, and in a similar way our male scout snakes are attracted to the biggest females around,” Bartoszek said.

The Conservancy’s team has removed several record-breaking large snakes through its targeted removal technique wherein they use radio transmitters implanted in male “scout” snakes to spot breeding females. “Scout snakes can lead biologists to breeding aggregations and large, reproductive females, allowing researchers to remove breeding females and their developing eggs from the wild,” the researchers explained.

While the team has removed numerous big snakes since they started operating in 2013, this is the largest female python removed from the wild. Earlier the biggest snake captured through the programme weighed 185 pounds (approximately 84 kg), which was the heaviest python captured in Florida at the time.

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