Field biologists discovered an 18-foot invasive Burmese python weighing 215 pounds in the Florida Everglades.
Researchers from the Conservancy of Southwest Florida believed their scale was broken when they weighed the beast, as none of them could comprehend a Burmese python would ever grow so huge, National Geographic reported Tuesday. The snake, the largest ever discovered in Florida, was captured using a male scout snake with a GPS tracker attached to it, the outlet continued. Burmese pythons are effectively impossible to spot without scout snakes, according to BroBible.
“Look at the scale of the problem” – some 18 feet of very dead invasive python – the largest ever removed from Florida, complete with 120 eggs and adult white-tailed deer hooves – at @ConservancySWFL, which is working to remove them from the Everglades. pic.twitter.com/Zm0xHsZqlb
— Amy Bennett Williams (@AmySWFL) June 22, 2022
The python was pregnant with 122 eggs when it was euthanized by the team, National Geographic reported. The high number of follicles reflected another record set by the female but was apparently not surprising given her size, the outlet continued. (RELATED: Call Al Gore! The Polar Bears Aren’t Going To Die After All)
Inside her digestive tract, the researchers found “tan goop with bits of fur,” dissolved bone and three intact hoof cores belonging to a deer, National Geographic reported. Only 73 different animal species have been discovered inside of Florida Burmese python guts, including 24 mammals, 47 birds and two reptiles, according to the outlet.
Bad-A** Cat Gets Shot By Arrow, Believed To Have Taken Arrow Out By Himself https://t.co/70LdAw2b0j
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) April 22, 2022
The apex predator was first introduced to Florida in the 1970s and has erupted in wild numbers since then, National Geographic continued. They’ve altered the ecosystem of the area, largely by eating a huge variety of native species, the outlet noted.
Studies have suggested Burmese pythons have devastated populations of raccoons, opossums, bobcats, marsh rabbits, cottontail rabbits and foxes throughout South Florida, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.