Slog
News & ArtsTuesday, January 31, 2012
Animals The Burmese Pythons of Florida
Posted by Charles Mudede on Tue, Jan 31, 2012 at 8:05 AM
Non-native Burmese pythons are the likely cause of a dramatic mammal decline in Florida's Everglades.The pythons were introduced to this part of the world by way of the pet trade.A team studied road surveys of mammals in the Everglades National Park before and after pythons became common.
Researchers found a strong link between the spread of pythons and drops in recorded sightings of racoons, rabbits, bobcats and other species.
Earlier this month, US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced that the US was poised to approve a ban on importing Burmese pythons. But some observers remarked that the move was about 30 years too late.The pythons not only eat minor mammals but also go after alligators.
1
florduh has enough rednecks with guns and boats to make a dent in the python population. organize a statewide hunt.
2
Good Morning Charles,
I just read that in the morning paper accompanied by a photo of one of the bigger critters. The numbers of mammals consumed by them astonished me. They are definitely a problem. Clearly, they shouldn't have been introduced.
I just read that in the morning paper accompanied by a photo of one of the bigger critters. The numbers of mammals consumed by them astonished me. They are definitely a problem. Clearly, they shouldn't have been introduced.
3
The pet trade... and the unfortunate way Americans believe that it's alright to discard pets when they're no longer wanted.
4
If snake predation is a problem now it's because there are large numbers of animals to prey on. But in nature, with less prey because of over predation, the snake populations will reduce. Than the prey populations will increase and relative balances can be reached. Because snakes populate areas where there is a balance with prey. Too many rabbits and racoons can be a problem as well. Surely the planet's climate changes, of which there have been many, created similar situations in the past. We see today Snowy Owls in unprecedented numbers flowing down to the states where they normally don't prey. They surely change the numbers of prey animals they normally wouldn't prey on. This is just speculation on my part.
7
@ 4, @ 6, no, invasive species introduced by irresponsible humans, as the pet owners who release exotic pets into the wild are, isn't part of nature at all.
8
The Everglades is the only National Park that is still under threat of destruction, from an animal other than man.
9
@7 You're correct. But rats are a species introduced by humans too. And I bet they've settled in quite comfortably in their environment. I would bet there is enough demand for snake skin to bring the numbers under control quickly, as well.
10
OLN has an entire show about these pythons... in the very first episode they debunk the 'reckless pet owner' myth.
In 2003, a hurricane struck Florida, and a 'breeding facility' lost thousands and thousands of young Burmese pythons. This is believed to be the major cause of the current problem.
One dude getting bored with his albino boa isn't to blame. Some barely-regulated research facility storing snakes in a hut in the Everglades during hurricane season? Now there's your problem...
In 2003, a hurricane struck Florida, and a 'breeding facility' lost thousands and thousands of young Burmese pythons. This is believed to be the major cause of the current problem.
One dude getting bored with his albino boa isn't to blame. Some barely-regulated research facility storing snakes in a hut in the Everglades during hurricane season? Now there's your problem...
11
@7 Didn't we go over this one ad nauseum the other day? Since humans are part of nature, anything we do, like add new species to a given environment, is natural. May not be good for the current equilibrium of an ecosystem, but it's still natural. If birds transplanting strange seeds to islands is natural, then so is this.
12
No, Vince is totally correct @4. If it weren't for the overpopulation of native mammals, these pythons would have had no reason to swim to Florida to help us clean up the mess. If there wasn't a food source, they would't be feeding. It's as simple as that.
13
I watched that pbs show about florida pythons and loved the part where the started showing the insides and all. Amazing at how the inner organs work in such a small narrow body.
14
@ 9, depends on what you mean. I'm unaware of rats running off into the unsettled areas surrounding human habitats and multiplying unchecked there. Their environment seems to be "where humans dwell," like that of pigeons. But this is one time when I can embrace the nasty quality some have (killing animals for the hell of it) and hope it's put to good use.
@ 11, do you really believe that the this falls under the same model of birds spreading seeds? Maybe it isn't the bad pet owner syndrome, as @ 10 corrects, but animals from one continent were brought over to another and introduced en masse to an environment where they have no natural predators or competitors.
Perhaps it is natural, under the definitions of the other day's debate, but if so, then efforts to eradicate the pythons and act on the balance of nature is, too.
@ 11, do you really believe that the this falls under the same model of birds spreading seeds? Maybe it isn't the bad pet owner syndrome, as @ 10 corrects, but animals from one continent were brought over to another and introduced en masse to an environment where they have no natural predators or competitors.
Perhaps it is natural, under the definitions of the other day's debate, but if so, then efforts to eradicate the pythons and act on the balance of nature is, too.
15
If python steaks were marketed as a delicacy ? Oh wait, we're discussing Florida. Python McNuggets 20 pieces with ranch for 5 bucks.
16
Well, I'm concerned that a super-python from Asia has established itself in Florida and could wreak havoc with local ecosystems (including maybe driving local species, both prey and competing predators, to extinction). Also it's sketchy to suggest that an invasive species' dietary needs are a way to measure over-population. Pretty sure biologists would be displeased with Geraldo's #12 comment.
18
I heard a herpetologist just this weekend at a snake class say that a few more freezes in Florida would wipe out the Burmese pythons. This pbs site, which is VERY informative, supports that idea. Fingers are crossed. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/…
19
What @12 says is in line with my way of thinking. The ecosystem had an overabundance of small mammals and was ripe for predation. If it hadn't been pythons, something else would have come along. It doesn't even matter what.
21
@ 19, I think you missed @ 12's irony. I also think you don't understand what happens when an invasive specie has nothing to keep it in check, but one thing it doesn't do is demonstrate that there was an overabundance of prey.
22
@14 I do think it falls under the same model, and while they may not have any "natural" predators in Florida, the Earth's history is rife with creatures being introduced into new environments and subsequent extinctions. It's survival of the fittest, not survival of the current equilibrium forever and ever. Though yeah, that would make hunting them down with flamethrowers equally natural.
23
@ 22, my understanding is that "survival of the fittest" is a Social Darwinist concept, not one found in actual evolutionary biology. I could be wrong and welcome clarification and correction, but I remember learning this in college.
24
Florida should start developing a market for snakeskin on a large scale. By the time the pythons die down "naturally" they will have created a biological desert. Invasive species never come into balance with local eco-systems. As the pythons die down because they have reduced the number of prey animals, the few remaining predators original to the ecosystem will be wiped out as well because pythons eat them too. Since they climb so easily small pythons consume the eggs and fledglings of already threatened bird species.It is only a matter of time before they spread to Alabama, Louisiana and Georgia.
25
@20: but you have to allow hunting in the Natl Park, too. trickier - they used pros in Olympic to kill the goats. Until they got wiley and hung out in inaccessable nooks and crannies of the peaks.
26
@23 I read up "survival of the fittest" on Wiki, and yeah as the commonly understood social darwinist creed, it's not the guiding principle of evolution and doesn't accurately describe natural selection. Stealing straight from Wiki "Darwin meant it as a metaphor for "better adapted for immediate, local environment", not the common inference of "in the best physical shape".[4] Hence, it is not a scientific description.[5]."
So what I'm trying to say is that the python appears to be better adapted to this new environment however it got there, and its success is natural selection at work.
So what I'm trying to say is that the python appears to be better adapted to this new environment however it got there, and its success is natural selection at work.
28
@ 26, I think it's safe to say that human interference doesn't fit the classification of "natural" under this construct. It may have been "natural," as discussed the other day, for people to bring pythons from halfway around the world to a research facility from which they escaped, but without the unique human ability to transport animals long distances, "nature" wouldn't have allowed them to come in the first place.
29
@28 Major storms, ocean currents carrying dead trees with passengers, ice age land bridges, continents bumping into each other, nature has plenty of ways to get creatures to places they "don't belong."
30
Vince @4 ; Your scenario applies mostly to a normal predator prey balance- like wolves and rabbits in Montana , for example. It doesn't apply to this situation. The pythons aren't native. They are not normally part of that ecosystem. They do not belong in the everglades equation. That's why this is a problem. It is a unique place with unique fauna. Pythons are throwing the balance off by eating everything. predators and prey animals alike. It wont balance out once the mammal population declines because the pythons will eat just about anything. Even pets. Maybe even each other. Those mammals will just be gone forever. It's like the english ivy, blackberries and Scotch broom in the PNW. It just keeps spreading and native stuff is just gone. I hope they figure out a solution.
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