When wildlife biologists got here throughout a headless 13-foot Burmese python within the Florida wilderness, they puzzled what may have preyed on an invasive animal that has no pure predators within the space. Seems, a Florida-native predator—a bobcat—had bitten the pinnacle off the python, and scientists are thrilled.
Bobcats are frequent predators within the Everglades, however historically, they don’t prey on Burmese pythons. In actual fact, nothing preys on Burmese pythons within the Everglades aside from people, and that’s the problem. Burmese pythons aren’t native to Florida; people introduced them there as a part of the pet commerce. As soon as there, they flourished, because of the mixture of bountiful prey and no pure predators.
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However when Ian Bartoszek of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida and a staff of biologists discovered the headless python, they puzzled if the Everglades’ native predators have been catching on. Path-cam footage, together with proof from the snake’s necropsy, confirmed that it was a bobcat that had decapitated the huge snake and feasted on a part of its prolonged physique.
Live Science reported the fascinating incident, saying: “Scientists are nonetheless investigating how and when native predators face off in opposition to the invasive snakes, however the discovering hints that native species are studying to reap the benefits of the competitors as a possible meals supply.”
See the Conservancy’s submit concerning the bobcat and python in Florida right here:
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