Pythons and Deer:

News and Research

Pythons, Invasive and Hungry, Are Making Their Way North in Florida March 14, 2023 The New York Times

...  “one of the most intractable invasive-species management issues across the globe.” ... studies found that Burmese pythons, which are nonnative apex predators originally from South Asia, had decimated native species, including wading birds, marsh rabbits and white-tailed deer...

Hunters are swarming the Florida Everglades for the annual python challenge. The state says it's vital to save the ecosystem August 6, 2022 Florida, CNN

...  Deer, raccoons, possums, and fox once flocked the area of the Everglades National Park in south Florida.  Nowadays, you’re lucky if you spot one ...  Who’s to blame ... The invasive species known as Burmese pythons...

Florida’s Biggest Python Ever Caught With Deer Hooves in Stomach June 22, 2022 Field & Stream

... Researchers who examined the Florida snake during a necropsy in April found 122 eggs inside the python ... Scientists also found hoof cores in the python’s digestive tract, indicating that its last meal was an adult whitetail deer...

Pythons, not native to Florida, are found to be eating deer in the Everglades in 2016.  An estimated population of 100,000 in 2017.

Snakes on a plate! Up to 300,000 monster pythons are laying waste to Florida's wildlife December 22, 2020 Daily Mail

... famous for their ability to swallow whole alligators, pigs and adult deer, because of super-elastic tendons that allow the lower jaw to stretch a long way downwards ...

A threat to the ecosystem October  3, 2020 Florida, Daily Commercial

...  the Burmese Python that has set up camp in South Florida, making meals from native animals as large as the American Alligator and White-Tailed Deer! Invasive crocodiles, far more aggressive than native gators, have also established populations in parts of the state...

Where's the howl over the pet industry's decimation of Everglades wildlife September 14, 2018 Florida

Sun Sentinel

... A biological catastrophe has indeed devastated the small mammal population in Everglades National Park, along with 94 percent of the white-tailed deer. A seven-year study published in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences documented ... created by commercial interests that import, breed and sell Burmese pythons ...