Burmese python: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 21:36, 12 January 2025

Revision as of 11:56, 19 February 2025

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[[Image:NAS Static US SF FLGVWDMZ014485631722126.png|thumb|United States range in 2007]]

[[Image:Burmese_python_%286887388927%29.jpg|thumb|A captured Burmese python in the Florida Everglades]]

Python invasioninvasions has been particularly extensive, notably across [[South Florida]], where a large number of pythons can now be found in the Florida [[Everglades]].<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Top 10 Invasive Species |date=2010 |magazine=Time |url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1958657_1958656_1958659,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100206203125/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1958657_1958656_1958659,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 6, 2010 |access-date=27 April 2010}}</ref>{{r|invspinfo}} Between 1996 and 2006, the Burmese python gained popularity in the pet trade, with more than 90,000 snakes imported into the U.S.<ref name="Walters-2016" /> The current number of Burmese pythons in the Florida Everglades may have reached a [[minimum viable population]] and become an [[invasive species]]. [[Hurricane Andrew]] in 1992 was deemed responsible for the destruction of a python-breeding facility and zoo, and these escaped snakes spread and populated areas into the Everglades.<ref>{{cite web |title=Democrats Hold Hearing on Administration's Plan to Constrict Snakes in the Everglades - House Committee on Natural Resources |date=2010|url=http://naturalresources.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=177795 |publisher=Naturalresources.house.gov |access-date=9 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120916202100/http://naturalresources.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=177795 |archive-date=16 September 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> More than 1,330 have been captured in the Everglades.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/ever/naturescience/burmesepython.htm|title=(US National Park Service website - December 31, 2009)|website=nps.gov|access-date=8 April 2019}}</ref> A genetic study in 2017 revealed that the python population is composed of hybrids between the Burmese python and Indian python. The species also displays [[cytonuclear discordance]] which has made phylogenetic studies of its origin more complicated.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hunter|first1=M.E. |last2=Johnson|first2=N.A. |last3=Smith |first3=B.J. |last4=Davis|first4=M.C. |last5=Butterfield|first5=John S.S. |last6=Snow|first6=R.W. |last7=Hart|first7=K.M. |date=2017 |title=Cytonuclear discordance in the Florida Everglades invasive Burmese python (''Python bivittatus'') population reveals possible hybridization with the Indian python (''P. molurus'') |journal=Ecology and Evolution |volume=8 |issue=17 |pages=9034–9047 |doi=10.1002/ece3.4423 |pmid=30271564 |pmc=6157680}}</ref>

By 2007, the Burmese python was found in northern Florida and in the coastal areas of the [[Florida Panhandle]]. The importation of Burmese pythons was banned in the United States in January 2012 by the [[U.S. Department of the Interior]].<ref name="U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 2012">{{cite press release |title=Salazar Announces Ban on Importation and Interstate Transportation of Four Giant Snakes that Threaten Everglades |url=https://www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/Salazar-Announces-Ban-on-Importation-and-Interstate-Transportation-of-Four-Giant-Snakes-that-Threaten-Everglades |website=doi.gov |access-date=April 26, 2022 |date=2012}}</ref> A 2012 report stated, "in areas where the snakes are well established, foxes, and rabbits have disappeared. Sightings of [[raccoon]]s are down by 99.3%, [[opossum]]s by 98.9%, and [[white-tailed deer]] by 94.1%."<ref name="Adams">{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/pythons-are-squeezing-the-life-out-of-the-everglades-scientists-warn-6297653.html |___location=London |work=The Independent |author=Adams, G. |date=2012 |title=Pythons are squeezing the life out of the Everglades, scientists warn}}</ref> Road surveys between 2003 and 2011 indicated an 87.3% decrease in bobcat populations, and in some areas rabbits have not been detected at all.<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Dorcas ME, Willson JD, Reed RN, Snow RW, Rochford MR, Miller MA, Meshaka WE, Andreadis PT, Mazzotti FJ, Romagosa CM, Hart KM |date=2012 |title=Severe mammal declines coincide with proliferation of invasive Burmese pythons in Everglades National Park|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=109 |issue=7|pages=2418–2422 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1115226109 |pmc=3289325 |pmid=22308381 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2012PNAS..109.2418D}}</ref> Experimental efforts to reintroduce rabbit populations to areas where rabbits have been eliminated have mostly failed "due to high (77% of mortalities) rates of predation by pythons."<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Willson, J. |date=2017|title=Indirect effects of invasive Burmese pythons on ecosystems in southern Florida |journal=Journal of Applied Ecology|volume=54|issue=4|pages=1251–1258 |doi=10.1111/1365-2664.12844|doi-access=free|bibcode=2017JApEc..54.1251W}}</ref> Bird and [[coyote]] populations may be threatened, as well as the already-rare [[Florida panther]].<ref name="Adams" /> In addition to this correlational relationship, the pythons have also been experimentally shown to decrease marsh rabbit populations, further suggesting they are responsible for many of the recorded mammal declines. They may also outcompete native predators for food.<ref name="McCleery-2015">{{cite journal |vauthors=McCleery RA, Sovie A, Reed RN, Cunningham MW, Hunter ME, Hart KM |title=Marsh rabbit mortalities tie pythons to the precipitous decline of mammals in the Everglades |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences|volume=282 |issue=1805 |page=20150120 |date=2015 |pmid=25788598 |pmc=4389622 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2015.0120}}</ref>