Thousands of invasive Burmese pythons are spread out across more than a thousand square miles of South Florida.
The first record of a Burmese python in the Everglades was in 1979. Since then, they’ve competed for food with native wildlife and have wrought havoc on the park’s ecosystem.
A 2012 study showed populations of raccoons declined 99.3 percent, opossums 98.9 percent, and bobcats 87.5 percent since 1997. Marsh rabbits, cottontail rabbits, and foxes effectively disappeared over that time.
According to the USGS, the severe mammal declines coincide with the proliferation of invasive Burmese pythons in Everglades National Park.
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Potentially even more concerning is a recent collaborative study the Conservancy of Southwest Florida took part in that showed the invasive snake can eat prey much larger than previously reported.
Researchers observed a Burmese python ingesting a 77-pound white-tailed deer which was 66.9 percent of the snake’s mass.
That begs the question: Can a Burmese python take down an alligator?
When it comes to the American alligator vs. a Burmese python, it’s eat or be eaten.
Larger alligators will feast on large pythons whereas the snakes tend to prey on smaller gators.
Burmese pythons are known to make a meal of smaller alligators. A bicyclist filmed a Burmese python strangling an alligator in Big Cypress National Park.
A 5-foot alligator was found inside of an 18-foot Burmese python carcass during a necropsy.
They do!
For example, on Thanksgiving Day, a large alligator, nicknamed “Godzilla,” was caught on video hauling a massive Burmese python through the water in the Everglades.
In 2023, a Florida woman captured video of a 10-foot alligator in the Everglades eating a Burmese python.
In a 2023 USGS study, baby Burmese pythons were outfitted with radio transmitters. Five were eaten by alligators.
In June of 2021, a bobcat feasted on Burmese python eggs in the Big Cypress Preserve.
Burmese pythons are native to Southeast Asia. Many of the invasive snakes came to the U.S. because of their popularity in the pet trade, according to the USGS.
The snakes were then intentionally or accidentally released in South Florida.
Burmese pythons “can survive in and utilize a variety of habitats found in the region, and many of these areas are difficult to access and effectively survey,” the USGS reported.
The agency conservatively estimates the Burmese python population in the Florida Everglades region in the tens of thousands.
According to Florida Fish and Wildlife, Burmese pythons are established from just south of Lake Okeechobee to Key Largo and from western Broward County west to Collier County, including:
Any pythons found outside of those areas are likely escaped or released captive animals.
However, “due to the cryptic nature of pythons, it can take a while to gather enough evidence to confirm new areas of establishment,” FWC said.
Burmese pythons are among the largest snakes in the world, with adult animals averaging between 10 and 16 feet long, according to the University of Florida.
A group of python hunters caught the longest Burmese python ever measured on July 10, 2023, in the Big Cypress National Preserve in eastern Collier County.
The monster snake was 19 feet long.
The heaviest Burmese python ever recorded was caught by Conservancy of Southwest Florida biologists in the Florida Everglades in 2022. The colossal female python weighed an eye-popping 215 pounds and was nearly 18 feet long.
While it’s not illegal to eat python meat, it’s definitely not recommended.
According to FWC, the Florida Department of Health issued a “Do Not Consume Python” advisory because mercury levels considered too high for human consumption was found in python meat during testing.
While there have been no human deaths from wild-living Burmese pythons in Florida, the possibility can’t be ruled out, the USGS reported.
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