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At first I thought the invasive pythons were being killed off by the parasite, which was great news, but the parasite is instead killing native Florida snakes,
by degenerate 8y ago
At first I thought the invasive pythons were being killed off by the parasite, which was great news, but the parasite is instead killing native Florida snakes, according to the article (edit: thanks DoreenMichele).
The Burmese pythons are the only predators that can kill Florida alligators. It's thought that owners of pet pythons released their snakes into the everglades when they didn't want them anymore through the 80s/90s, and the population became a problem starting in the 2000s:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burmese_pythons_in_Florida https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burmese_pythons_in_Florida
What also might have contributed to the boom was Hurrican Andrew in 1992, when exotic wildlife sanctuaries and zoos in Dade County got destroyed and animals escaped:
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1992-09-20-1992264001-story.html https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1992-09-20-19922640... (1992 article)
- DoreenMichele 8y agoAdded the word native to the title. Hopefully, it will reduce confusion. (Also changed in to from.)
- riffraff 8y agoI love how one of the proposed solutions to the problem is "introducing jaguars". While I understand how that makes some sense, it is hilariously similar to the Simpsons' episode where flying lizard erase pigeons and are eliminated by introducing snakes which are eliminated by introducing snake-eating gorillas..