Located at the tip of Florida, the Everglades are the largest subtropical wilderness in the US. It’s taken Americans a while to appreciate what the “River of Grass” has to offer. Early settlers had a drain and conquer approach to this wetland.
Thankfully, citizens and scientists eventually recognized the Everglades’ role in mitigating floods, providing water for agriculture, and housing wildlife. And in 1947 some 1.5 million acres—or about half of the original extent of the Everglades—became protected. Now we need to figure out how to keep Everglades National Park from becoming a buffet table for escaped pet snakes.
Few would have predicted that constricting snakes would become a leading threat to park wildlife in the Everglades. They are not native. But low hanging trees, warm water, and abundant prey have proved to be ideal habitat for Burmese pythons, Anacondas, boas, and other snakes turned loose by their owners.
Populations of Burmese pythons, in particular, have been skyrocketing. First spotted in the 1970s, the animals are now breeding in the park. They can live up to 35 years and reach more than 20 feet in length. And research has linked their rise to a decline in native mammal and bird populations.
When Smithsonian Institution ornithologist Carla Dove examined the stomach contents of captured pythons, she identified twenty-five different bird species, including an endangered wood stork, which stands three and a half feet tall.
The rise of constricting snakes in the Everglades underscores the importance of keeping non-native animals out of our wild lands. It also calls into question the safety of importing exotic animals as pets.
Photo, taken on June 10, 2010 using an Olympus u770SW,S770SW, courtesy of JaxStrong via Flickr.