NAPLES, FL (AP) – A team of biologists recently retrieved the heaviest female Burmese python ever caught in Florida, officials said.
The python weighed 215 pounds (98 kilograms), was nearly 18 feet (5 meters) long and had 122 developing eggs, the Southwest Florida Conservation said in a press release.
The team used radio transmitters transplanted into male “reconnaissance” snakes to study python movements, breeding behavior and habitat use, said Ian Bartoszek, a wildlife biologist and head of the environmental science project for the conservation program.
“How do you find the needle in the haystack?” You can use a magnet and in a similar way our male scout snakes are attracted to the biggest females around, “Bartoszek said.
The team uses a scout snake named Dionysus – or Dion for short – in the western Everglades area.
“We knew he was there for a reason, and the team found him with the biggest woman we’ve ever seen.”
Biologist Ian Easterling and intern Kyle Findley helped capture the female snake and transport it through the woods to the field truck.
An autopsy also found hooves in the snake’s digestive system, meaning an adult white-tailed deer was its last feeding.
National Geographic documented the discovery, highlighting the continued impact of invasive pythons, which are known to multiply rapidly and deplete surrounding local wildlife.
Bartoszek said the elimination of female pythons plays a crucial role in disrupting the breeding cycle.
“It’s a question of the wildlife of our time for South Florida,” he said.
Since the conservation python program began in 2013, they have removed more than 1,000 pythons from approximately 100 square miles (25,900 hectares) in southwest Florida.
During this section, autopsies found dozens of white-tailed deer in Burmese pythons. Data researchers from the University of Florida have documented 24 species of mammals, 47 species of birds and 2 species of reptiles from the stomachs of pythons.
Prior to the recent discovery, the largest female removed by the conservation program weighed 185 pounds (84 kilograms) and was the heaviest python caught at the time in Florida, officials said.
The state python eradication program runs for two weeks in August. Participants compete for prizes, including $ 2,500 to catch the most pythons.
More than 600 people from 25 states took part in last year’s challenge.
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