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The current capture of a 17-foot, 198-pound python in Florida generated nationwide headlines, principally as a result of it was the second-heaviest python ever caught within the Sunshine State.
The principle picture confirmed 5 males posing with the lifeless python, which, as one meteorologist remarked, boasted a head “the scale of a soccer.”
Such captures are certainly noteworthy. Burmese pythons are extremely invasive and threaten native wildlife. They don’t belong in Florida and the state encourages looking and removing.
However what individuals hardly ever see, as a result of the swamp-dwelling reptiles are nocturnal, are big dwell pythons roaming in broad daylight.
One exceptional exception occurred final January, when a photographer out birding with associates captured video footage of an enormous python slithering throughout a highway in Everglades Nationwide Park.
Kym Clark, who captured the footage, recalled the shock 11 a.m. encounter for ForTheWin Outside.
“It was a really random encounter,” Clark mentioned. “There have been no hunters or weapons. We by no means anticipated this. As soon as it hit the grass, it vanished fully in seconds.”
Pythons in Florida prey on native mammals, together with deer. In addition they eat birds and different reptiles, together with alligators.
Clark mentioned watching the clearly pregnant python escape triggered her to take a extra lively position in serving to with eradication efforts.
Hunters pose with the second-largest python ever caught in Florida. Photograph: Mike Elfenbein
“She was loaded with eggs,” Clark defined. “From that day on, I began studying how you can hunt pythons as a result of I vow to by no means allow them to go once more.
“I can catch pythons now, however being trustworthy, I’m undecided I may catch her, even as we speak. It might take a minimum of two sturdy males in my view. However I’ll certain strive if I’ve the chance to fulfill a monster like this once more.”
Clark and her good friend estimated the python to measure maybe 18 toes.
After pictures of the 17-foot, 198-pound python captured final week, Clark mentioned she believes the python she and her associates encountered “was truly bigger than that.”
The heaviest python captured in Florida was an 18-foot, 215-pound specimen killed in Picayune Strand State Forest in 2021. The longest python measured 19 toes however weighed solely 125 kilos.
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