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A record find emerged from Naples, Florida.
A team of researchers at the Southwest Florida Conservation caught a 215-pound and 17.7-foot Burmese python early in the new year.
Ian Bartoszek, a wildlife biologist and project manager for a python at Southwest Florida Conservation, told Fox News Digital how important the find is to the Everglades region, given that the python is the heaviest in history.
“This is the biggest snake we’ve caught,” he said.
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“And as far as I know, this is the largest by weight ever caught in Florida in the invasive range.”
Bartoszek said he “always wondered” if he and his team – including biologist Ian Easterling and intern Kyle Findley – would catch a snake over £ 200.
Biologists Ian Bartosek (right) and Ian Easterling (center) are pictured with intern Kyle Findley (left) and 17.7 feet and a 215-pound Burmese female python. He was captured for tracking a male scout snake in the state forest Picayune Strand in December 2021 (Conservation of Southwest Florida)
Then they came across this female python – which exceeded all their expectations.
“We put it on the scales, looked at the number, and I think there was a collective distrust,” he said. “There was a giggle in the background, like ‘No way.'”
“We knew it was big,” he said. “I guess we just didn’t realize it was that big.”
Eventually, the python was retrieved from the forest and humanely euthanized.
The biologist remembered the initial struggle in the fight against the massive snake.
He told in detail that she “threw her weight” and even clenched the end of her tail into a “fist” and swung at Findley.
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“[She] I missed him, “Bartoszek said.
“But Ian Easterling was on the other side of receiving – and she punched him in the face with her tail to let him know. So that was fun.
Eventually, biologists extracted the python from the forest and humanely euthanized it so that it could be studied for future research and reserved for educational activities.
Researchers Ian Bartosek (left), Ian Easterling (center) and intern Kyle Findley (right) transport a record-breaking Burmese female python – weighing 215 pounds – and 17.7 feet – to their lab in Naples, Florida. and photographed. (Photo by Maggie Steber, National Geographic)
“She really is a snake of the next level,” he said. “We have a lot of respect for these animals.”
Not only has this Burmese python broken weight records, but the snake has a total of 122 developing eggs – which Bartoszek says are “the most” in the non-local range.
“It was a record in itself.”
Remains of a hoof have been found from inside the snake, indicating that it most likely ate an adult white-tailed deer as its last meal.
Researcher Ian Bartoszek examined dozens of proto-eggs while performing an autopsy on the largest female Burmese python ever found in Florida. The team counted 122 of these “follicles,” another record number. (Photo by Maggie Steber, National Geographic)
This particular finding is exactly why researchers are seeking to capture and destroy invasive species, as their appetite for wildlife in South Florida puts the entire ecosystem at risk.
“Research partners from the University of Florida have documented 24 species of mammals, 47 species of birds and two species of reptiles from the bellies of Burmese pythons in the invasive range,” said the biologist.
“So that’s the definition of a universal supreme predator.”
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Bartoszek said it was “not surprising” to find these remains, as Burmese pythons are big game hunters; but the white deer is also the main source of prey for the Florida panther, an endangered species.
“They’re not interested in us. They’re interested in our local wildlife.”
The question I usually ask is, “What do you think it took for the local wildlife to make a snake that weighs 250 pounds?”
“She may be over 15, maybe even over 20, and she’s been out in the landscape all this time and she’s naughty,” he said.
“And they’re interested in our native wildlife – and we’re interested in removing them from the ecosystem.”
These hooves of white-tailed deer were found inside a Burmese python. (Southwest Florida Conservation)
The invasive species was born in Southeast Asia; there they are given the status of vulnerable, as they often collect too much for meat, medicine and skin.
So how did they get to the Everglades? Bartoszek said the reasons included the deliberate release of pythons, escaped pets and / or severe weather conditions that destroyed breeding facilities.
Bartoszek said that in the last 10 years – of the 20 he has been in the conservation organization – his team has conducted a radiotelemetric study of invasive Burmese pythons in the area.
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This study offered a “huge amount” of information about snake behavior. Bartoszek said they used this against the animal to kill more than 26,000 pounds of pythons – more than 1,000 snakes in an area less than 100 square miles.
The team was able to track specifically reproductive female pythons with an approach called scout snake methodology.
This method requires the surgical implantation of radio transmitters in male pythons that have been spotted with females – which then, as Bartoszek described, becomes a one-sided “hide-and-seek” game.
“They would be 0% detectable without using a python to find a python,” he said.
“We have an army of snakes working with us.”
Bartoszek explained that Florida residents are unlikely to encounter a Burmese python. He also said there was no evidence that they were interested in injuring people.
“They are not interested in us,” he said. “They are interested in our local wildlife.
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“I always say I’m more afraid to drive here on the roads [breeding] season than I’m fighting the Burmese python. “
For more information on this story, visit natgeo.com.
Angelica Stabil is a lifestyle writer for Fox News Digital. Follow her on Twitter at @atstabile.
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