Burmese Python Research Paper

Invasion of the Burmese Python

For approximately the past 28 years, Florida has struggled to curb the spread of a very problematic invasive species, the Burmese Python. The Burmese Python is originally native to Southeast Asia; they were brought to South Florida as pets in the mid-1990’s. Over the years, these snakes have been released into the wild where they have been able to find mates and reproduce (Florida). Burmese Pythons are invading the Everglades National Park where they rapidly feast on federally endangered species such as Woodstorks and Key Largo Woodrats (Mazzotti, 2011), causing devastating consequences to our ecosystem. Burmese Pythons will continue to multiply and jeopardize the existence of endangered species in the Everglades National Park unless more research is done and greater public awareness is made on the issue. There are several reasons why the Burmese Pythons are a major problem in Florida. Female Burmese Pythons reproduce rapidly and have as many as 100 babies a year, which quickly increases their population over time. Additionally, without any major predators in Florida, their numbers have grown over the last couple years. This massive population has allowed the Burmese Pythons to quickly and efficiently prey on

Burmese python’s insatiable appetite has seemingly had a huge impact in the Everglades National Park. Accordingly, to Stokstad (2015) “between 2003 and 2011, sightings of raccoons and opossums in the Everglades dropped by 99%” these and other mammal species were a lot more common on certain parts of the Everglades, but that has changed ever since pythons had arrived. This major problem shows just how Burmese pythons are on Florida’s Everglades and they are the reason why much more has to be done to control their