Team finds massive python in Everglades

A team of python trackers in the Florida Everglades caught the largest Burmese python ever found in the region. The nearly 18-foot python (Python bivittatus) weighed 215 pounds, National Geographic reported, and was carrying 122 eggs. Biologists who performed a necropsy found hoof cores in its stomach, suggesting it had last preyed on a white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Burmese pythons typically grow to an average of 8 to 10 feet, so this snake’s massive size was striking, as was its large number of eggs. The Conservancy of Southwest Florida team caught the python in December. Burmese pythons are invasive to Florida and have become a significant predator.

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