11 pythons found tangled up in 500 pounds of 'mating balls' in southwest Florida
Wildlife conservators found 500 pounds of pythons tangled up in "mating balls" in one day in Collier County, Florida, last month.
Wildlife conservators found 500 pounds of pythons in a single day last month in Collier County, Florida.
The 11 Burmese pythons were found Feb. 21 in three different breeding aggregations, or "mating balls," that contained one female snake and multiple male snakes, according to the Conservancy of Southwest Florida.
It was a record daily capture for the conservancy, which has been researching and removing snakes from the environment for over 10 years.
Conservancy wildlife biologist Ian Bartoszek with a large mating ball of pythons captured in southwest Florida.Courtesy of Conservancy of Southwest FloridaBurmese pythons, normally native to Southeast Asia, are an invasive species in the U.S., and they prey on over 72 species of animals in Florida, conservancy wildlife biologist Ian Bartoszek said. They are one of the largest species of snake in the world.
The conservancy uses male snakes that it tags with radio transmitters to lead it to female snakes during the breeding season, Bartoszek said. Once the conservancy captures the snakes in an effort to suppress the local python population, they are euthanized, and tissue samples are collected to advance genetic studies.
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