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Biologists made multiple record-breaking discoveries when they tracked down the heaviest Burmese python known to be found in Florida.
The Conservancy of Southwest Florida announced Wednesday it found the 215-pound female Burmese python measuring nearly 18 feet in length in December.
Record-Breaking Python-Florida
“This season we tracked a male scout snake named Dionysus, or Dion [with a radio transmitter implanted inside] to a region of the western Everglades that he frequented for several weeks,” said Ian Bartoszek, wildlife biologist and environmental science project manager for the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. “We knew he was there for a reason, and the team found him with the largest female we have seen to date.”
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Inside the female python, the biologists also found a record 122 developing eggs.
<mediadc-iframe data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1655994203928,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000017d-8cce-d87c-af7f-ddce9ca80000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1655994203928,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000017d-8cce-d87c-af7f-ddce9ca80000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"title":"Most massive Burmese python ever caught in Florida – Press conference","iFrameEmbedCode":"","_id":"00000181-90f2-d789-a3f7-99f626400000","_type":"00000161-b425-d761-a563-f7e77e270000"}”>Most massive Burmese python ever caught in Florida – Press conference
The Burmese python is known as an invasive species for its rapid reproduction and depletion of surrounding 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,” Bartoszek said. “This is the wildlife issue of our time for southern Florida.”
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Bartoszek explained that the pythons have been known to eat white-tailed deer, in addition to 24 species of mammals, 47 species of birds, and two other reptile species.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
After being established in 2013, the conservancy’s python program has removed more than 1,000 pythons from approximately 100 square miles in southwestern Florida.
