The record python snake that they captured in South Florida

The Big Cypress National Wildlife Sanctuary in Florida, USA, captured a python snake 5.2 m long, 63.5 kg and carrying 73 eggs under development. This is the largest female python that they have found instead.

The researchers of the national reserve
Big Cypress Florida has captured a python that marks a record in the history of the place.

The animal, which was 5.2 m long and weighed 63.5 kg, had 73 eggs in development.

This is the largest female snake removed from Big Cypress, as announced by the
Facebook page.

The animal, which was 5.2 m long and weighed 63.5 kg, had 73 developing eggs

The reptile was captured using an innovative technique for controlling invasive species on the reserve.

Burmese pythons pose a serious threat to Florida's native fauna. It is estimated that tens of thousands of these ophidians live in Big Cypress and in the
Everglades National Park, ecosystems that meet in South Florida.

What do researchers do to find pythons and remove them from protected areas?

Invasive species

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

The species is native to Asia, but it is thought that some people in Florida kept them as pets and released them when they saw that they had grown too much.

Other pythons escaped from a breeding center destroyed by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. These snakes do not have natural predators in Florida and the US Geological Survey . says that they contributed to the "radical decline" of the average mammals in the region.

Once captured, the workers of the reserve "sacrifice them humanely". "They have a very negative impact on animals such as deer, birds and even panthers (…) It's not fun to sacrifice them, but to protect the many native species of Big Cypress", explained the reservation in a Facebook page comment.

Followed

Park researchers follow female pythons in the breeding phase by placing radio transmitters in male pythons.

"The team followed one of the sentinel men via the transmitter and found this huge woman nearby," says the reservation about the discovery announced Friday.

In addition to eliminating invasive snakes, Big Cypress takes advantage of every discovery to collect data, develop new tools to remove them, and learn how these animals move in the area.