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Snake hunters have captured what they claim to be the largest python ever found in the Florida Everglades swamps: a pregnant woman over 5.2 m long and weighing 140 lbs or 63.5 kg.
The team of the Big Cypress National Reserve has published in an article on Facebook news of its record catch. She also said the giant reptile was carrying 73 eggs.
Ecologists struggle to find ways to eliminate pythons from Burma, a non-native species, from the 1.5 million-acre nature reserve since the 1980s, when some were released into the wild under the form of pets. Others escaped from a breeding facility devastated by Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
Studies have shown that populations of raccoons, opossums and bobcats have decreased from 88% to 99%, according to studies. Several species of rabbits and foxes have virtually disappeared. Experts estimate that tens of thousands of snakes are currently sliding in the waterways of the Everglades.
"All python work at Big Cypress is focused on controlling this invasive species, which is a significant threat to native wildlife," the researchers wrote in this article.
They also said that the record-breaking python was trapped after its position was given by a boyfriend – a so-called Judas snake.
"The use of male pythons with radio transmitters allows the team to track the male to locate the breeding females," they said. "The team not only removes invasive snakes, but collects data for research purposes, develops new removal tools, and learns how pythons use the pool."
They said their teams had been able to extract several other breeding females from the same area in recent months in partnership with the US Geological Survey.
The record-breaking python defeats a female captured at Big Cypress in December 2017 by Jason Leon snake hunter, 17 feet 1 inch and weighing 32 kg, according to the Miami Herald.
The agencies responsible for managing the public python hunt on the Everglades scenes last year recorded their 1,000th killings, by a hunter who took away more than 100.
Other efforts to eliminate pythons have been less successful. Scientists at the Everglades National Park formed a beagle puppy called Python Pete in search of snakes, but had to abandon this business when Pete faded in the heat of summer in Florida.
In 2017, two renowned snake hunters from the mountain-based Irula Indian tribe bagged only 33 pythons after singing through the Everglades for two months.
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