All articles tagged with #pythons
Florida poses several hidden dangers for visitors, including flesh-eating bacteria in the water, poisonous pink egg blobs of invasive apple snails, and the threat of invasive pythons, which can pose risks to humans and pets, and even cause traffic accidents. Visitors should be cautious and aware of these hazards while enjoying the state.
Recent research reveals that pythons, traditionally considered solitary creatures, actually exhibit complex social behaviors. These findings challenge previous assumptions about reptilian social structures and suggest that pythons may form social bonds and interact with each other more than previously thought.
A new study by the University of Florida shows that invasive Burmese pythons in the Everglades are killing off predatory mammals such as foxes and bobcats and otters, but not depleting ample cotton rat populations. Pythons, brought to Florida via the exotic pet trade in the 1970s, have thrived in the wild, establishing breeding populations, growing to as large at 18 feet, and wreaking havoc on the Everglades ecosystem. The study found that the rats survive at about the same rate regardless of pythons, but that pythons change who’s around to kill them.