The growing Burmese python population in South Florida and Everglades National Park and lots of unknowns have led scientists to conclude that eradicating the invasive species in the southern a part of the state is probably unattainable.
In a research paper published earlier this 12 months, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said South Florida’s Burmese pythons pose “considered one of the most difficult” management problems in the world in the case of invasive species.
Although Burmese pythons were detected in the Everglades as early as 1979, it was not until the late Nineties and early 2000s that confirmation of a reproductive population prompted the snake to be considered a longtime invasive species in the national park.
The problem has spread to Broward and Palm Beach counties and continues to maneuver north to areas resembling Lake Okeechobee and Fort Myers, and it began with just a number of snakes introduced into the wild from the exotic pet trade.
The latest paper analyzes the results of greater than 250 research programs and discusses ways to decelerate the invasion, admitting that little is known about how often pythons reproduce of their latest environment, how long they live and the way large the population is. adult.
![A Burmese python being held during a June 16, 2022 safe capture demonstration in Miami. A 19-year-old man from South Florida caught 28 Burmese pythons in a 10-day competition to raise awareness about the invasive species and the threats they pose to the state's ecology. Matthew Concepcion was among 1,000 participants from 32 states, Canada and Latvia who took part in the annual challenge, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said in a press release.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/NYPICHPDPICT000001500819-e1679361700292.jpg?w=1024)
“Annual survival rates for Burmese pythons haven’t been well characterised, partially because the required sample sizes and study durations for telemetry-based estimates are logistically and financially difficult,” a 2006 paper noted. large enough for many predators to kill them.
The largest python ever recorded in Florida was almost 19 feet long and weighed 214 kilos because it was carrying 122 eggs.
Florida pythons typically lay between 11 and 84 eggs on average, although larger snakes have been reported to put as many as 79-87 eggs.
Researchers in Florida have begun equipping small mammals like raccoons and opossums with GPS trackers to assist track pythons’ locations and movements.
After five months of research, a breakthrough got here when considered one of the possum’s collars stopped moving, then began moving again a number of hours later. The researchers found that the lack of movement triggered the lethal signal, but when it began moving again, they realized the small mammal had been eaten by a snake.
It took the researchers a few month to search out the tracker as the snake moved out and in of the Key Largo cave maze, and after they did, they found a 12-foot, 66-pound female python stuffed with egg sacs.
The state also hosts an annual slaughter in October called the Florida Python Challenge 2022. Last 12 months, 231 snakes were killed during the challenge.
But methods like the annual challenge are unlikely to cut back South Florida’s exploding population of Burmese pythons.
“While a wide range of python-catching techniques have been utilized in South Florida, lots of these tools haven’t been rigorously evaluated, largely due to python detection difficulties,” the paper concludes. “A general eradication of pythons in South Florida is probably unattainable. Suppressing python populations, even on an area scale, would require strategic coordination of scientists, land managers, funding, public outreach, implementation of several different complementary tools, and rigorous evaluation of those tools.”