Wildlife conservators found 500 pounds of pythons in a single day last month in Collier County, Florida.
Once the conservancy captures the snakes in an effort to suppress the local python population, they are euthanized, and tissue samples are collected to advance genetic studies.
“It often feels like a ‘CSI’ wildlife crime scene in our lab during necropsies, and we frequently see firsthand how they are getting so large,” Bartoszek said.
The species was brought to Florida in the 1970s through the pet trade and has since become an “established apex predator across the Greater Everglades ecosystem,” the conservancy’s website says.
“Burmese pythons are thought to be responsible for a 90% decline in native mammal populations across their established range,” the conservancy says.
The conservancy has removed more than 1,300 pythons weighing over 35,000 pounds from an area of about 150 square miles in southwestern Florida, Bartoszek said.
The original article contains 285 words, the summary contains 148 words. Saved 48%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
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Wildlife conservators found 500 pounds of pythons in a single day last month in Collier County, Florida.
Once the conservancy captures the snakes in an effort to suppress the local python population, they are euthanized, and tissue samples are collected to advance genetic studies.
“It often feels like a ‘CSI’ wildlife crime scene in our lab during necropsies, and we frequently see firsthand how they are getting so large,” Bartoszek said.
The species was brought to Florida in the 1970s through the pet trade and has since become an “established apex predator across the Greater Everglades ecosystem,” the conservancy’s website says.
“Burmese pythons are thought to be responsible for a 90% decline in native mammal populations across their established range,” the conservancy says.
The conservancy has removed more than 1,300 pythons weighing over 35,000 pounds from an area of about 150 square miles in southwestern Florida, Bartoszek said.
The original article contains 285 words, the summary contains 148 words. Saved 48%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!