![]() "The thing that scares me the most is that this could be another Burmese python," said Kristina Serbesoff-King, invasive species program manager for the nonprofit Nature Conservancy in Florida. The rock python's expansion mirrors the Burmese snake's explosion for some Florida conservationists-and a chance to learn from past mistakes. "We can't rule out the possibility," Reed said, "that the introduction of genes from a different species might do something that would allow to be even more effective at persisting in Florida and perhaps expanding." Worse Than the Burmese Python? ![]() And because of a biological phenomenon called hybrid vigor, there's an off chance the resulting snakes could be hardier, more powerful predators-assuming they're not sterile, as many hybrids are-USGS's Reed said. If the two python species mate, they may spawn a hybrid species, as has happened in captivity. ![]() If so, it shouldn't be long before they encounter their Burmese cousins. Hidden in a Florida swamp, he added, the African python "could strike you and you wouldn't even know it was there." Python + Python = Hybrid Supersnake?Īfrican pythons have likely already made it into the Everglades, Krysko said. ![]() In Africa, rock pythons are known to have attacked humans, Krysko said. Lacking poison, it kills animals by encircling and literally squeezing the life out of them.įlorida wildlife may not be the only creatures at risk. "Dozens of species of native wildlife, from white-tailed deer to 6-foot alligators to birds, have been found in the digestive tracts of Burmese pythons in Florida," said Reed, who is also working with the Florida museum's Krysko on the Florida python problem.Īlso like the Burmese python, the African snake is a constrictor. In Florida the African snake might "eat almost any warm-blooded animal that is big enough to ingest," as the Burmese python does, USGS's Reed said. In its native habitat, sub-Saharan Africa, the African rock python eats small mammals, antelope, warthog, herons, and other animals. The National Geographic Channel is part-owned by the National Geographic Society, which owns National Geographic News.) Pythons Threaten Mice and Men (The Florida python crisis will be covered in a future episode of Explorer on the U.S. Geological Survey in Fort Collins, Colorado. With the addition of the rock python, Florida is now an established home-away-from-home for three large alien constrictors-including the Burmese species and the boa constrictor-according to wildlife biologist Robert Reed, who studies invasive reptiles for the U.S. What's "really scary" is that the new invaders only have to cross the road to enter Everglades National Park, where Burmese pythons have already eaten thousands of native animals, he said. Pet breeders unprepared for the pythons' ferocity may have released them, Krysko said. So far the giant snakes have been found only in a single square mile (2.6 square kilometers) of suburban area west of Miami. More dangerous than even Burmese pythons-which are known to eat alligators-the African pythons are "so mean, they come out of the egg striking," said Kenneth Krysko, senior herpetologist at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville. More troubling, a pregnant female and two hatchlings have been found, which means the aggressive reptiles have set up house. Six African rock pythons have been found in Florida since 2002. state's "worst nightmares."Īfrica's largest snake-the ill-tempered, 20-foot-long (6.1-meter-long) African rock python-is colonizing the U.S. ![]() Already squeezed by the invasion of the giant Burmese python, Florida now faces what one scientist calls one of the U.S. ![]()
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