Conservancy of Southwest Florida surpasses 20-ton milestone in Burmese python removal

NAPLES, Fla. - EntSun -- The Conservancy of Southwest Florida announces a record-breaking Burmese python research and removal season of 6,300 pounds of invasive snake. This marks a milestone for the Conservancy's python program, with more than 20 tons of Burmese pythons removed from a 200-square-mile area in Southwest Florida since 2013.

Using radio telemetry and tagged male pythons known as scout snakes, the team, including Bartoszek and Conservancy Biologist Ian Easterling, along with a field tech and python interns, currently track 40 pythons. These scout snakes help locate reproductive pythons during the breeding season, November through April. Conservancy staff monitors scout snakes across a 200-square-mile area of public and private land from Naples through the Western Everglades.

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In this science-based approach, biologists target adult female pythons, attempting to suppress python reproduction. Since 2013, the team has stopped an additional 20,000 python eggs from hatching. As the program expands into new areas, long-term monitoring has shown signs of positive effectiveness of these efforts, as scout snakes increasingly struggle to locate mates or the females they find are smaller in size.

The Conservancy's python program is one of the leading research and removal initiatives globally, with its scientists recognized for capturing the largest female python ever documented to date, measuring 18 feet long and weighing 215 pounds, as well as the largest male python on record at 16 feet and 140 pounds. Conservancy biologists have also published more than 20 collaborative scientific articles that reveal insights into python biology and behavior. These include the documented observation of an adult female python consuming a white-tailed deer, which uncovered the largest gape ever recorded for the species, and new evidence of the python's ability to ingest prey. Pythons can consume meals over 100% of their body mass, feeding on a diet that includes more than 85 species, including deer, bobcats, foxes, rabbits, birds, various reptiles and other native wildlife.

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The Conservancy python tracking team collaborates with Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve researchers, the United States Geological Survey, the University of Florida and the South Florida Water Management District. Funding for the program comes from private philanthropy, grants, the Naples Zoo Conservation Fund and the Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida. To learn more about the Conservancy's work with Burmese pythons, visit Conservancy.org.