What Is Burmese Pythons Affecting The Florida Everglades

The growing population of Burmese pythons is affecting the Florida Everglades. Changes in animals, people, and the ecosystem is all being cause by the pythons entering the Everglades. These Burmese pythons are amongst the longest snakes in the world. Although they have no venom, they are very effective when it comes to killing their prey. The python grips their prey and squeezes the animal until it dies. It then swallows the animal whole and moves on. They are able to hunt in the dark due to chemical receptors in their tongues and heat sensors along their jaw. People are starting to notice changes in local animals. Right now, some animal populations are decreasing as the Burmese python population increases. Bird species, opossums, raccoons, and bobcats are some of the victims of the python. To save the local animals in the Everglades, we must find some way to stop the population of the pythons from growing. All animals have different impacts on the Earth and they all deserve to live, especially those who do no harm.

Some people are choosing to make them their pets. They either finding these pythons or buying them and keeping them as pets. Some owners are irresponsible and accidentally lose them or just let them free. This has a big impact on the growing population of these pythons. One example is this exotic pet dealer’s warehouse that housed nearly 900 Burmese pythons, it was destroyed and all the pythons that were in there got released. Recently, someone came up with the Python Challenge which is an event for experienced and inexperienced people to come and hunt these snakes for a prize of about $1,500. Because of this challenge, inexperienced people looking to win some money, are going out and hunting these snakes with little training and information on them. People can get seriously hurt and this can also affect the Everglades