Biggest ever Burmese python caught in Florida Everglades (and it was pregnant with record 87 eggs)

Associated Press | 12/08/14 | Last Updated: 12/08/14 12:00 PM ET

REUTERS/Florida Museum of Natural History at University of FloridaResearchers prepare to examine the largest Burmese python found to date in Florida in this still image captured from 

video at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, Florida.

Story contains graphic images
The biggest Burmese python ever caught in Florida — 17 feet, 7 inches (5.18 metres) long and 164 1/2 pounds (74.4 kilograms) — was found in Everglades National Park, the University of Florida announced Monday.

REUTERS/Florida Museum of Natural History at University of Florida/HandoutResearchers transport

 the largest Burmese python found to date in Florida in preparation to examine its internal anatomy 

in this still image taken from video at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, Florida.

The snake was pregnant with 87 eggs, also said to be a record. Scientists said the python’s stats show just how pervasive the invasive snakes, which are native to Southeast Asia, have become in South Florida.

“It means these snakes are surviving a long time in the wild,” said Kenneth Krysko, a snake expert at the Florida Museum of Natural History, where the euthanized snake was brought. “’There’s nothing stopping them and the native wildlife are in trouble.”

REUTERS/Kristen Grace/Florida Museum of Natural History at University of Florida University of

Florida herpetologist Kenneth Krysko displays eggs found in the largest Burmese python found to 

date in Florida at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, Florida in this handout picture.

The python had feathers in its stomach that scientists plan to use to identify the types of wildlife it was eating.

“A 17 1/2-foot snake could eat anything it wants,” Krysko said.

REUTERS/Florida Museum of Natural History at University of Florida Researchers prepare to examine 

the largest Burmese python found to date in Florida in this still image captured from video at the 

Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, Florida.

 

Tens of thousands of Burmese pythons are believed to be living in the Everglades, where they thrive in the warm, humid climate. While many were apparently released by their owners, others may have escaped from pet shops during Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and have been reproducing ever since.
The snakes kill their prey by coiling around it and suffocating it. They have been known to swallow animals as large as deer and alligators.

KRISTEN GRACE/AFP/GettyImagesThis August 10, 2012 photo courtesy of the Florida Museum of

 Natural History shows researchers at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the University of 

Florida campus as they examine the internal anatomy of the largest Burmese python found in Florida 

to date.

 

Authorities have taken repeated steps to try and reduce the python problem, banning their importation and allowing them to be hunted. But those efforts have done little to reduce the population.
In and around Everglades National Park alone, some 1,825 Burmese pythons were found between 2000 and 2011.

REUTERS/Florida Museum of Natural History at University of Florida Researchers examine the 

internal anatomy of the largest Burmese python found to date in Florida in this still image captured

from video at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, Florida.

 

Rob Robins, a biologist at the Florida Museum of Natural History, said the snakes are very hard to catch, and that since they have established themselves in the Everglades, they will be virtually impossible to eradicate.

“I think you’re going to see more and more big snakes like this caught,” he said.

REUTERS/Kristen Grace/Florida Museum of Natural History at University of Florida Researchers 

 prepare to examine the internal anatomy of the largest Burmese python found to date in Florida at 

the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, Florida in this handout picture.