Notes

Never before have had snakes this large established themselves beyond their natural range. Furthermore, no introduced population of reptiles has ever been successfully eradicated anywhere on earth. This, the unprecedented invasion of Burmese pythons in Everglades National Park mandates that managers investigate experimental new methods of monitoring and control. It is said you should understand your enemies, and park scientists are trying to do just that. They have implanted large pythons with radio tracking devices and re-released them into the park. The goal is to obtain information about the behavior of these exotic snakes and their habitat use. By observing the tagged pythons in the wild, scientists have learned that these animals adapt well to a variety of vegetation communities. During the breeding season, these “Judas” animals can lead scientists to aggregations of untagged pythons, a challenge that would otherwise be nearly impossible to surmount in a wilderness area nearly twice the size of the state of Rhode Island. Understanding the movements and preferred habitats of Burmese pythons is only the first step in control.