Florida Python: A pregnant gravid snake captured using a new approach

A national park in Florida captured a record 5.2 m python using an innovative approach to tackle invasive species.

The female snake, the largest ever removed from the Big Cypress National Reserve, weighed 63 kg (140 lbs) and had 73 eggs in development.

Pythons pose a major threat to the native wildlife of the state.

Park researchers hunt for breeding females by equipping male pythons with radio transmitters.

"The team followed one of the sentinel men with the transmitter and found this massive female nearby," Park said on Facebook.

Big Cypress says he uses each discovery to collect data for research purposes, develop new removal tools, and learn how pythons use the region.

The Burmese python is considered an invasive species since its appearance in the Florida Everglades in the 1980s.

The species is native to Asia, but some pythons were reportedly released in the wild in Florida as invaded animals, while others escaped from a breeding center destroyed by the plant. hurricane Andrew in 1992.

Snakes do not have any natural predators in Florida and according to the US Geological Survey (USGS), they have contributed to the "radical decline" of medium-sized mammals.

It is currently estimated that tens of thousands of Burmese pythons live in the Florida Everglades.