Pythons apparently wiping out Everglades mammals

news.yahoo.com...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A burgeoning population of huge pythons — many of them pets that were turned loose by their owners when they got too big — appears to be wiping out large numbers of raccoons, opossums, bobcats and other mammals in the Everglades, a study says.

Get a load of the size of one of the snakes they caught back in 2009



The above is a 162 pound Burmese python that was captured in the Everglades

The study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that sightings of medium-size mammals are down dramatically — as much as 99 percent, in some cases — in areas where pythons and other large, non-native constrictor snakes are known to be lurking.

Wow! Some are down 99%? That's horrible. The article says that it is difficult to predict what this means for the Everglades ecosystem in the future. Im not sure what will happen either. My guesses are that the python population will continue to grow, while their food sources dwindle even more and more.

Apparently, there are supposed to be tens of thousands of these pythons living in the area.

Tens of thousands of Burmese pythons, which are native to Southeast Asia, 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.

What really gets me, is that some people who own these snakes, are just letting them go into the wild. They're not native to the area! Yes I know accidents happen, but im talking about the intentional release. If you dont know how to take care of a pet, dont get one!

Anyways, here's some more info on these pythons.

Burmese pythons can grow to be 26 feet long and more than 200 pounds, and they have been known to swallow animals as large as alligators. They and other constrictor snakes kill their prey by coiling around it and suffocating it.

And here's some more stats about the biggest declines in mammal populations

The researchers found staggering declines in animal sightings: a drop of 99.3 percent among raccoons, 98.9 percent for opossums, 94.1 percent for white-tailed deer and 87.5 percent for bobcats. Along roads where python populations are believed to be smaller, declines were lower but still notable.

Rabbits and foxes, which were commonly spotted in 1996 and 1997, were not seen at all in the later counts. Researchers noted slight increases in coyotes, Florida panthers, rodents and other mammals, but discounted that finding because so few were spotted overall.

well if you thought that was a big snake wait for 10 more years and you see monsters like these from china



Snake Scares man to Death

The everglades has changed forever, what is scary is the mambas, egyptian cobras and all the bad predators not native to the everglades. Once animals are gone, who do you think is next? pets that live in residential areas

reply to post by buni11687


i work in the everglades, and every now and then you'll hear about a python..but it doesnt seem to be that bad at the moment, i dont see the florida panther, or bear going extinct anytime soon...

besides thats what we have gators for....although there have been some cases when they've opened up a python they were finding juvenile gators in their belly

I guess that sometimes, a person looks at a small boa, and they look so cewl, they buy one, not realizing (or doing their homework) how large they can get, or even if they know it, they think it will be cewl to have such a large snake... and then the snake grows up, and the owner gets terrified by it, or his family gets terrified, or the owner gets scared that he, or a family member, or his dog, or cat, will end up in the snake's stomach, or he realizes that it is not so easy to find large, living animals to feed the snake with, and he thinks the snake will live happily out in the Everglades. Where I grew up, we had similar problems, people getting exotic pets, not realizing the responsibility that goes along with having those pets, they thought it was like keeping a dog, and in the end, the poor animal gets released into the wild, creating havoc with the natural life (or with the neigbour's pets)...

The discovery of African rock pythons close to the Everglades wetlands is a worrying development for wildlife officers already troubled by the rising population of Burmese pythons, bred from pets dumped illegally in the wild.

Kenneth Krysko, a herpetologist at the Florida Museum of Natural History, speculates that should the two species mate, they could create genetically superior offspring more aggressive, powerful and resilient than their parents — possibly with the ability to strike down human prey.

Rock pythons are “so mean, they come out of the egg striking . . . this is one vicious animal”, he told National Geographic News. “The arrival of the Burmese python was the biggest, most devastating problem that Florida could ever have imagined. Now we have a worse one.”

Source

Who is responsible for these things? Is it nature or man?

Rock Python+Burmese Python= Super Snake?

I hope these hybrid pythons never migrate to the colder climate

They posted cameras along a fence between a housing surburb and the Glades.Every evening about dark a dozen or so big pythons came out and headed over to the neighborhood to hunt dogs and cats.
Now I have to wonder what else had been released ?Cobras?Big vipers like a Russell's or a Bushmaster?And all of them will migrate North as far as snakes range.No reason to stop.The Rock Pythons are still localized to about a 20 Sq mile radius but that won't last.

I faced up with a (maybe)10 ft Bushmaster in Honduras many years ago.I wasn't getting too clOse to measure the damn thing.That was prob the scariest thing Ive ever laid eyes on and I was near a big Brown Bear in Alaska once.He just laid in the trail and dared me to try to get past.Head was bigger than both my hands together and I can easily believe some loser has turned at least one loose somewhere.Yay

Originally posted by LiveEquation

The discovery of African rock pythons close to the Everglades wetlands is a worrying development for wildlife officers already troubled by the rising population of Burmese pythons, bred from pets dumped illegally in the wild.

Kenneth Krysko, a herpetologist at the Florida Museum of Natural History, speculates that should the two species mate, they could create genetically superior offspring more aggressive, powerful and resilient than their parents — possibly with the ability to strike down human prey.

Rock pythons are “so mean, they come out of the egg striking . . . this is one vicious animal”, he told National Geographic News. “The arrival of the Burmese python was the biggest, most devastating problem that Florida could ever have imagined. Now we have a worse one.”

Who is responsible for these things? Is it nature or man?

Rock Python+Burmese Python= Super Snake?

I hope these hybrid pythons never migrate to the colder climate

They are now tired of being too hot and are crawling out of the Everglades by the hundreds of thousands into the rivers and heading North. You are so screwed.

Really.

There is only one snake on this planet that is responsible for animal extinction...

and that is the greedy human.

Peace

Let me get this straight...

Some "sciencey" people rode up and down a bunch of roads in a vehicle and counted all of the critters they saw, over a period of time.
Then, they did it again at a later date, and saw a lot less of each small critter that they had seen before, but saw MORE of the larger native critters, that typically eat the smaller ones, but they automatically jump to the non-native critters as the culprit?
"Deny Ignorance" Please!

Yeah I watched a show on these burmese pythons living in the everglades. They are reproducing in the wild there now. So they've got a foothold and they will only get more numerous. I know Columbian Red Tailed Boas were often found living in the wild there. I wonder why they didn't get a foot hold and the pythons did.

Hey just be happy they aren't releasing reticulated pythons (the python from the photo with the digging dozer)
OR anacondas. The first picture was of a burmese python weighing in at 160 pounds. Anacondas have been weighed in at 300. Scary.

Hey guys whats the secret on baiting and catching these mammoth creatures ?
Are they edible and what would be the value of snake skin, Just curious guys

And by the way yous all live in truly wonderful part of the world i would sure love to reside there you got it made

reply to post by foxhoundone


No secret...Just go down to the Glades and run up and down the roads, at night.
According to those sciencey folks, you'll have trouble not stepping on one...roflmbo

Actually, you will need a good set of eyes, a few strong able-bodied folks, and the ability to navigate and traverse a very inhospitable terrain. And then, you might find one...