The Conservation Report

Current areas of the U.S. suitable as Burmese python habitat:

Year 2100 projected U.S. climate based on global warming models:

IMAGE by Lori Oberhofer shows an American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) attempting to consume a Burmese python. However, Burmese pythons have been recorded consuming American alligators whole.

Burmese pythons or Python molurus bivittatus are very large snakes that kill their prey by asphyxiation, which is achieved through constriction. To prevent its prey from escaping, the python uses specially designed teeth to seize hold of its prey as it’s killed. Afterwards, the prey is swallowed completely.

Burmese pythons are native of Southeast Asia but are established in the Florida Everglades. The invasion comes via the pet trade where the snakes are purchased as curiosities. However, a small Burmese python will grow into a very large Burmese python; therefore, the snakes become too large to handle, since Burmese pythons have been recorded just shy of 30 feet and weighing just over 400 pounds.

To make matters worse, the climatic map of the United States is changing due to milder winters and climate change. As a result, suitable habitat for the Burmese python is  expanding. The large constrictor is just one example of many invasive species that have become established via pet owners who release unwanted pets into non-native habitat. The poisonous lionfish is another example, in addition to a slew of other bird, reptile, and plant species. Since invasive species occupy new ecosystems, they have no natural predators.  Sometimes other foreign species are carefully introduced to control invasive species; however, biological pest control can fail, because some introduced species that are suppose to control invasive species, may find natives easier to prey upon. Currently, Burmese pythons in Florida are being tracked to understand their movements and biology. In order to stop the pythons from expanding, special sniffer dogs are being used to find the snakes, and “pheromones can potentially be used to lure pythons into traps.”

The impact of invasive species on their new environments can be severe. From ScienceDaily:

Biologists with Everglades National Park confirmed a breeding population of Burmese python in the Florida Everglades in 2003, presumably the result of released pets. Python populations have since been discovered in Big Cypress National Preserve to the north, Miami’s water management areas to the northeast, Key Largo to the southeast, and many state parks, municipalities, and public and private lands in the region….

Burmese pythons have been found to eat endangered Key Largo woodrats and rare round-tailed muskrats. “This makes it that much more difficult to recover these dwindling populations and restore the Everglades,” said park biologist Skip Snow, “and all the more important that pet owners be responsible in their choice of pet and dispose of it properly should they need to. Releasing them into the environment is bad for that pet, bad for native species, and also illegal.”

On the Net: Everglades Burmese Python Project
On the Net: USGS Maps Show Potential Non-Native Python Habitat Along Three U.S. Coasts

Image Found Here
Image Found Here

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