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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFull Monty python: Florida snake swallows deer heavier than itself
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/mar/03/python-florida-snake-swallows-deer-heavier-than-itself<snip>
Researchers studying invasive Burmese pythons in Florida recently came upon something they had never seen before: an 11ft python that had consumed an entire deer that weighed more than the snake itself.
The wildlife biologists stumbled upon the bloated snake in Collier Seminole state park. When they moved it, it began regurgitating a white-tailed deer fawn.
Biologist Ian Bartoszek told the Naples Daily News the fawn weighed 35lb; the snake 31.5lb.
We were sitting there just trying to process that an animal this size could get its head around what turned out to be a deer, Bartoszek said. Its surreal to see that in the field.
Bartoszek said it was the largest python-to-prey weight difference he had measured.
White-tailed deer are an important food source for Floridas endangered panthers, so the researchers are concerned the pervasive snakes could also affect the health of the big cats.
If the snake had been left in the wild, it would have digested the entire deer, Bartoszek said. The predator-to-prey size ratio, he said, stunned his team.
It showed my team and myself what we were actually dealing with out there, what this python is capable of, he told the newspaper.
hlthe2b
(101,713 posts)These non-native snakes are destroying the entire ecosystem.
malaise
(267,800 posts)other people, animals, insects and the environment. Same shit with some of the Asian fish.
COLGATE4
(14,732 posts)among hundreds of other structures an exotic snake wholesaler. A large number of pythons were released into the glades and the rest is now history.
malaise
(267,800 posts)which are now an invasive species as far as the Caribbean Sea
COLGATE4
(14,732 posts)malaise
(267,800 posts)hlthe2b
(101,713 posts)COLGATE4
(14,732 posts)released at one time during Andrew.
backtoblue
(11,323 posts)And this story kinda scares me. Thanks alot malaise!!! I needed some new nightmares..
I hope you way more that that poor fawn
backtoblue
(11,323 posts)Though I miss my 26 inch waist, I don't wanna think about wearing an eleven foot snake as a belt to get it back!
magicarpet
(13,935 posts).... of these pythons. Will the snake coil itself around the child, squeeze the life out of it, and then gulp it down whole ?
How horrific.
hlthe2b
(101,713 posts)An escaped python allegedly strangled two sleeping boys in Canada.
malaise
(267,800 posts)ProudLib72
(17,984 posts)There is a certain snake in Florida (I believe it's called the Orange python) that consumes its weight in cheeseburgers. 239 lbs of Big Macs! It then sits on the toilet for days on end and tweets. Witnesses at several golf courses have attested to its ugly nature and rotund appearance. One woman who encountered the beast said she ran as fast as she could when the snake tried to attack her genitals.
magicarpet
(13,935 posts).... go to your room.... No TV or computer.
malaise
(267,800 posts)backtoblue
(11,323 posts)Lochloosa
(16,018 posts)GWC58
(2,678 posts)And Im not saying that to be a smartass. The pythons are very creepy! We go to Florida once a year, in July, to Daytona Beach. Those things could turn up anywhere in Florida. Damn!
OhNo-Really
(3,985 posts)Desperately wanted: PYTHON HUNTERS to tackle Florida's unwelcome intruder
Since Burmese pythons found their way into the wild in the 80s, they have decimated native wildlife. Now 150,000 could be lurking in the states waterways
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/27/florida-burmese-python-hunters
Sounds like a great REALITY TV Plot. Let's make the wily hunters Democrats.