According to a new study published in the journal Reptiles and Amphibians, Burmese pythons can consume prey even larger than scientists realized.
This means that more animals are on the menu across southern Florida, where the nonnative, invasive snakes have decimated populations of foxes, bobcats, raccoons and other animals.
Pythons swallow deer, alligators and other prey whole. What they can eat is limited to and dependent on how big the Burmese python's mouth can stretch. Researchers call this the snake's gape.
Conservancy of Southwest Florida biologists Ian Bartoszek and Ian Easterling recently conducted a study with Dr. Bruce Jayne from the department of Biological Science at the University of Cincinnati to better understand the ecological impacts of the invasive species.
The team measured the greatest maximum gape recorded in Burmese pythons to date.
Professor Jayne said measurements of the longest Burmese python, 19 feet, and two other very large snakes, 15 and 17 feet, captured in Florida show that pythons have a gape bigger than previous mathematical models suggest.
The largest Burmese python ever captured in Florida weighed a record 215 pounds, stretching 17.7 feet long.
Previous studies of pythons found the largest gape diameter was 8.7 inches, but the snakes in the current study had a maximal gape of 10.2 inches. These measurements equate to a circumference of 32 inches.
Three large adult female Burmese pythons researched at the Conservancy were examined and used for data and observations of this study, including the longest documented capture on record.
One python measured for data was found by Conservancy biologists while it was ingesting a 77 pound white-tailed deer. The deer was 66.9% of the snake's mass.
“Watching an invasive apex predator swallow a full-sized deer in front of you is something that you will never forget. The impact the Burmese python is having on native wildlife cannot be denied. This is a wildlife issue of our time for the Greater Everglades ecosystem," Bartoszek said.
In the past 12 years, the Conservancy's Burmese Python Research and Removal team has removed 770 adult pythons, totaling more than 36,000 pounds.
If each of these snakes ate only one deer as big a they could swallow, Jayne estimates that would be a total of more than 13,000 pounds of deer.
What gives pythons the ability to eat such large animals?
The lower jawbones are not fused at the front, allowing the jaws to stretch wide. Their skin is also elastic, accounting for more than half the circumference of the maximal gape in large pythons, allowing the snakes to consume prey six times larger than similar sized snakes of some other snake species.
“Besides the large absolute size of the deer that was eaten being impressive, our anatomical measurements indicate this deer was very near the size limit on the prey that could be consumed by this snake. Hence, these snakes resemble over achievers by sometimes testing the limits of what their anatomy allows rather than being slackers that eat only ‘snack size’ prey," Jayne said.
The Conservancy of Southwest Florida is an evidence-based organization, and the python tracking team is staying close to the science.
“We have been removing pythons and advancing invasive snake science for over a decade. These animals continue to impress us each season and one thing we’ve learned for certain is to not underestimate the Burmese python,” Bartoszek said.
The Conservancy began its Burmese python research and removal efforts within the bio-region in 2013. As of October 2024, the team has removed over 18 tons of python from a approximately 150-square-mile area in Southwest Florida.
The Conservancy's primary objective is to create a database of behavior and habitat use to better understand python activity. This research helps to inform decision-makers, other biologists, and land managers to develop a control strategy on the apex predator.
DOWNLOAD the free NBC2 News app for your latest news and weather alerts.