Burmese Pythons Increase In Florida

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B​urmese pythons have been lurking in the Florida everglades for years.

But new research from the U.S. Geological Survey shows just how quickly the wild python population has exploded — and how far the snakes have spread.

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Burmese pythons are an invasive species that ambushes their prey, are elusive to trappers and may be genetically adapting to cooler temperatures than are usual in South Florida, according to the paper published in January.

Here’s a look at some of the key points in the USGS research.

More than 10,000 Burmese pythons have been captured in Florida in the past five years.

That’s a rapid uptick from the time the first Burmese python was found in the wild there in 1979. After that lone snake was captured, another wasn’t found for 16 years. That year, 1995, saw two captured.

By the mid-aughts, trappers were capturing more than 400 Burmese pythons a year in the Everglades. The annual catch has been in the thousands since 2017.

B​ut they aren't easy to find.

“They spend 85% of their time not moving," Amy Siewe, a python hunter, told WINK-TV. "And when they do move, it is very slow, and they don’t like to be exposed,”

They’re spreading in every direction.

A map published with the study shows that pythons have spread across nearly all of southern Florida. The USGS researchers call it the "invasion front"

Some of the farther reaches of the front include agricultural areas around Lake Okeechobee, to the west near Naples, north past Fort Myers, east to Palm Beach County’s Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge and south to the Upper Keys.

There are also several records of pythons further north on the Florida peninsula, but the scientists say those are more likely snakes that recently escaped or were released from captivity, versus those that are part of the wild population.

The first Everglades population probably started at a place called Flamingo.

Burmese pythons are native to Southeast Asia, not South Florida. No one knows for sure when or how they got to the Everglades. The best guess is that a small group of them was released from captivity at the southernmost point of Everglades National Park, which is also the southernmost point of the Florida peninsula.

They prefer warmer temperatures, for now.

Just how far they’ll spread depends on several factors, including weather and climate change.

A freeze in 2010 killed off many wild pythons. But since then, researchers have found evidence of rapid evolution in Everglades Burmese python genes associated with cold tolerance.

In other words, the snakes found a way to quickly adapt to cooler temperatures.

“Overall, potential range limits of Burmese pythons are uncertain,” the study notes.

Pythons are blamed for the decline of several species in the Everglades.

The snakes have altered the food web throughout southern Florida. Their diet consists mostly of birds and smaller mammals, but they are also known to eat larger prey including alligators, deer, bobcat and wild pigs.

Each year there is a state-sponsored hunt called the Florida Python Challenge.

The 10-day competition includes a $10,000 prize for the hunter who bags the most Burmese pythons. Last year’s challenge included 1,000 participants from 32 states, Canada and Latvia. Together, they captured about 231 pythons, a little less than 10% of all pythons captured in 2022.

T​he state has also monthly "python patrol" training online, to teach people how to safely trap and kill the snakes.

No humans have ever been killed by a wild Burmese python in Florida.

In fact, such attacks are extremely rare anywhere in the world. The few deadly encounters that do happen between humans and pythons almost always involve snakes kept in captivity.

W​ant to learn more?

W​ATCH: Bobcats Might Save Florida from Pythons

R​EAD: Hybrid Python Could Pose Bigger Threat to Florida Everglades

R​EAD: Florida Restricts 16 Invasive Reptile Species, Including Pythons, Iguanas And Lizards

W​ATCH: Giant Python Swims In Baby Pool

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