...Feeling the Squeeze: The effects of the Python molorus bivittatus (Burmese python) in South Florida Inez Broom PCB 4043 October 7, 2015 Abstract The purpose of this paper is to discuss the effects of Burmese python in their non-native environment of South Florida. The discovery of how and why they have made South Florida their home and the impact they have had on the local ecosystem will be discussed. In addition, the management and control methods being used. Introduction The Python molorus bivittatus referred to as the Burmese python originated from Southeast Asia and have made South Florida their permanent home. Burmese python have been considered a subspecies to the native Indian python and have been able to squeeze out...
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...SAMPLE --- STUDENT WRITING Research Paper When Pets Become Predators What is an owner to do with a pet that has become too aggressive to handle, too expensive to feed or too large to house? This is a question many uneducated exotic pet owner’s face soon after purchasing a juvenile exotic reptile. Unfortunately, for many pet owner’s, the answer is to release the pet into our neighborhoods and parks creating a multitude of problems for homeowner’s, State officials and the environment. Probably the best known pet to become a predator is the Burmese python, also known as the Indian python. Burmese pythons average approximately 13 feet in length, but can grow to over 20 feet. (Indian Python) Their weight may exceed 200 pounds. Most owners begin feeding their juvenile pythons mice, but a snake grows quickly and graduates to rabbits, chickens and eventually pigs. A full grown python requires a cage of at least 8 feet in length. Because a Burmese python has a life expectancy of over 20 years, the potential buyer must carefully evaluate the long term commitment required with this purchase. Another well know pet to predator is the Nile monitor lizard. These lizards average 4 to 6 feet in length, but can soon grow to 7 feet. They are a carnivorous lizard that as a juvenile begins eating crickets, then graduates to gold fish and later to rats and other small animals. When full grown, monitor lizards like the Burmese python, need an enclosure of at least 8 feet, however...
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...Burmese Pythons Have you ever went to the everglades before? If so then you’ll realize how much Burmese pythons they’re in the Everglades. Now the first thing you’ll be thinking of is Burmese pythons not belonging here in Florida and should be in Southeast Asia where they’ve originated but here is where I get into detail about this. First off, what is a Burmese python? “The Burmese python is a magnificent and powerful animal”. “Native to the grassy marshes of Southeast Asia”, capable of growing to an astounding length of 23 feet and a weight of up to 200 pounds”. (Paragraph 1 of Burmese Python: The Snake That’s Eating Florida). Also Burmese pythons are carnivores and survive by eating small birds and mammals. Although they got no venom, they kill their prey by grabbing the prey with its back teeth and when the prey tries to run, it only sinks further into the python’s grip and then the python wraps its body around the body and squeeze until the animal is dead which then the python swallows the prey by its unique hinged jaws which allows it to swallow an object five times as wide as its own head....
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...Everglades. Maybe even somewhere you live! Eating the poor animals living there and destroying its population. The Burmese pythons are slowly destroying the Everglade’s ecosystem. They’re even in Key Largo! The Burmese python is a beautiful yet powerful creature. It has an eye-catching pattern on its back. The Python can grow to be a whopping size of up to 18 feet. The biggest ever caught was 18 feet and 6 inches! The Burmese python is originally native to Southeast Asia. The python mostly eats small birds and mammals. Its jaws can unhinge to eat something 5 times wider than its own head. They can basically eat you whole! The python kills its prey by first biting it with its back-curving teeth which if the animal tries to escape, it just rips deeper into the animal’s flesh. After, the python coils itself around the animal with its enormous and powerful, muscular body. It then squeezes the animal and suffocates it to its slow, painful death....
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...Burmese Pythons are affecting the ecosystem of the Florida Everglades. The Burmese Python is a massive snake that has no natural predators in the Florida Everglades. After they have been released, these snakes cannot be stopped by any other animal, they have a continuously growing population that cannot be contained. Because the Burmese Python has no predators in the Florida Everglades, the population of birds, reptiles, and small mammals have declined and are still declining because of this killing machine. Due to the problem now, people are starting to hunt these pythons because they know that there is no other solution except to kill them off, one by one. They are now rewarded for killing pythons, depending on length and weight. The Burmese...
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...The Snakes That Are Destroying the Everglades If you had a pet Burmese python that grew too large, would you release it into the wild when you could not take care of it any more? First, you need to know what a Burmese python really is. The Burmese python is a snake originally from Burma (now Myanmar) which can grow up to lengths of almost 25 feet, weigh over 200 pounds, and can eat an alligator, or even a full grown human, whole. They are an invasive species in the Everglades. The presence of the Burmese python is changing the Everglades by Invading the ecosystem, impacting the environment, and bringing tourism. First, Burmese pythons are invading the ecosystem. Most of the Burmese pythons living in the Everglades are there because of bad decisions made by idiotic people. Some people at one point decided to get a Burmese python, ignored the fact that it would one day get too large, and when that day came, released the python into the Everglades (Source 1 paragraph 3). Basically, that means that people allowed a species to invade a complex and fragile ecosystem. Also, these snakes are destroying the natives animal populations by eating more than the environment can handle. This basically means that the Burmese python could very well replace other species of animals by eating them away. So far, the damage to the...
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...an invasive species can affect an ecosystem. Prerequisite Knowledge: Before beginning this lab, you should be familiar with these concepts: • the definition of invasive species • the types of interactions that occur between different species in an ecosystem Introduction: Ecosystems are webs of intricately balanced interactions. But what happens when a new species is introduced that uses a disproportionate share of the ecosystem’s resources? In this lab activity, you will determine how an invasive species, the Burmese python, affects other species in the Florida Everglades. Part A Normal conditions (no pythons) Enter the Ecology Lab Room by clicking the button. Then follow the Lab Procedure. [pic] |Lab Procedure | |Four species appear in the Species Tracking box in the lower left: cougar (or Florida panther), house mouse, Burmese python, | |and red-eared slider. Note that the python population is set to 0 because in this first simulation, they have not yet been | |introduced to the ecosystem. | |Click the green play button on the Controller, the device sitting on the floor of the Lab Room. | |Let the simulation run until 20 years have passed, as displayed by the graphs that appear in the data window on the right side| ...
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...Burmese Pythons Imagine this, you are in the middle of the Florida Everglades, birds are chirping, alligators are resting in the water and suddenly a huge snake gets a mouthful of birds and then slowly slithers away. There are about tens of thousands of Burmese pythons living in Florida. These snakes are eating a large amount of birds and other mammals. Burmese Pythons are huge snakes that are making a massive impact on the environment of the Florida Everglades. They are capable of growing to 23 feet and up to 200 pounds. In the article, “Burmese Pythons: Not the Ideal Pet,” Matt Piven states, “Think of a telephone pole, and then imagine a snake as big around the middle as that pole”(page 44). The main reason that the Burmese pythons are invading the Everglades is because many families decided to keep these snakes as a pet without knowing what they were getting into. They were mesmerized with their beautiful patterned skin...
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...The Burmese pythons are ruining the Everglades. They are an invasive species and are eating the small mammals in the Everglades. The Pythons are originally from Asia but were transferred here by trade and pet markets. These reptiles may look beautiful but they are dangerous The Burmese Pythons have come to Florida from Asia. The pythons prey on small animals like the fox, rabbits, and the bobcat. According to Burmese Pythons: The Snake That’s Eating Florida “the Burmese python is magnificent and powerful animal.” The pythons are beautiful but dangerous. The pythons have heat sensors to be able to hunt on their prey. The python is a reptile so it is cold-blooded. The teeth of the python are curved backwards so when they bite their prey it is...
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...How Are the Burmese Python’s Changing the Florida’s Everglades? -Xymena Escobar How would you like to have a carnivorous Burmese Python for a pet? I surely wouldn’t. I insist on getting a pet but less sophisticated otherwise; I hope the python is not on your face the next morning. I believe the python is having a negative impact on the everglades of Florida. In fact, someone should stop these terrifying creatures. Clearly, the Burmese python’s are driving the hunters to the everglades. According to the Andrew Ng in the 2013 article it states, “To address the problem , the state’s Fish and Wildlife Commision is sponsoring its first-ever python challenge.” This statement means during the python challenge it adds more population to to the community to kill the pythons. This matters because it more hunters came someone around...
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...Burmese pythons are animals that shouldn't be kept as pets, hunted or moved because of how dangerous they are. Burmese pythons are harmful to other animals. Though hunters and uneducated owners are harmful to them. These snakes were moved here solely by man. They were part of the lucrative exotic pet market. Therefore, they are not native to the Everglades. Burmese Pythons are animals that are underestimated animals, they can be critical in the environment. When owners release them into the wild, they can affect the local ecosystem and become the predator. Burmese Pythons are an endangerment to native animals considering that hey are not originally from the Everglades. When Burmese pythons are released into the wild, it affects native species. They are wiping out a great number of animals in the Everglades such as, opossums, raccoons, bobcats and also bird species. This is not the best situation for these species. It affects the food chain and will make animals re-adapt to this new predator. It is not safe to have these animals roaming around the Everglades wiping out native species. The Burmese python is not an ideal pet. Uneducated owners do not know the risk of owning one. They can grow to 23 feet long and way over 200 pounds. Unfortunately, uneducated Burmese python...
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...There is a creature that is destroying your home and you don’t even know it. The Burmese python, this is a deadly python.This python is taking over the Florida Everglades. The Burmese Python is taking over Florida and the people in it. The people of Florida are being too risky and they could have their lives taken from them.According to Florida's Python Hunt “ To address the problem, the state’s Fish and Wildlife Commission are sponsoring its very first-ever Python challenge. Open to the public from Jan. 12 until Feb.10.” This shows that people are going out of their way to solve a problem that they caused. Now I know you think isn't that good? Well in some situations yes, but this one is not a good one to solve yourself. Secondly the...
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...There are animals in the everglades but lately they have been disapearing do you know why its because of a snake named the Burmese python. It is not native to the state of Florida but wait do you have a question on how the Burmese python got in the everglades and into Florida a man brought them from Southeast Asia to Florida. And some of them are in the pet store and some people are buying these unusual animals as pets and when they grow to big the careless and irresponsible owners go ahead and release the snake into to the everglades. Also how are the animals that live in the everglades disapearing the pythons are responsible for that they eat all the animals and destroy the everglades ecosystem. Some people created a web site named PythonChallenge.org where u sign up and the people on the web site tell u to do an assignment and it is if you go to the everglades and kill the longest snake you get $1,000 and if you get the most snake you get $1,500....
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...The Burmese Pythons “Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous,” Chanakya one said. The Burmese pythons are superb, superior, and striking species. Anywhere the pythons go they are going to make their selves known. The presence of the Burmese python is ruing the environment of the Everglades in To begin with, Burmese Pythons can grow up to 23 feet long! Even though they don’t have venom, their heat signals and their chemical receptors do the trick just fine. When the python catches its prey, it bites down into the prey’s skin. When the prey tries to escape it only causes the snake to bite down even more. “Many people have chosen...
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...I think that people shouldn’t have snakes as pets, because sometimes people don’t think thoroughly about how much of a hassle their pets are going to be. So, when they can’t take care of them or they get too big, they throw them out into the wild. Which can cause the species in the environment to be in great danger. The species in the Everglades are in great danger do to the problem: The Burmese Pythons are on the loose. They are multiplying faster than we can count them, because an average female Burmese Python can lay up to 80-100 eggs. People are probably thinking,” Whoa! That’s a lot of eggs!,” Actually it’s not, because only a few of the eggs survive. But, because the females multiply, they are overpopulating the Everglades. This all...
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