There’s about two weeks left in Florida’s 2016 Python Challenge and as of Friday afternoon 66 Burmese Pythons have been caught. The Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Collier County is one of the designated sites for the state-sanctioned hunt. Rookery Bay is also the site of an ongoing research effort by local, federal and academic partners aimed at learning more about how these invasive constrictors have adapted to the Florida environment.
For the past two years, researchers have been tracking Burmese Pythons in the reserve through radio telemetry using surgically implanted tracking devices. The goal is to learn more about the snakes in an effort to devise better tactics for locating and removing them from the wild. The tagged snakes are also leading researchers to other pythons and python eggs.
“We have easily removed a couple hundred potential hatchlings,” said Rookery Bay Environmental Specialist Greg Curry. “That’s the next phase of the research to possibly tag juveniles and find out what the juveniles are doing. What is their success rate? Are they sticking around or are they traveling? And that’s a big question.”
The research is a collaboration between Rookery Bay, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, the U.S. Geological Survey and Denison University in Ohio.
Researchers have found that pythons use burrows dug by other animals like gopher tortoises and armadillos. They’ve also discovered that males tend to have a broader geographical range than females. DNA testing has shown that the pythons in the reserve are a separate population from those that have invaded Everglades National Park.
“It’s completely different,” said Curry. “Our pythons are actually more related to the pet trade. And there were a couple large breeders over here on the west coast. Whether they were released on purpose or escapees, our DNA shows they’re still more related to the pet trade. The DNA on the east coast snakes tends to be a little more wild now.”
Frostbite scarring found on one necropsied python may indicate that they can survive in colder weather than had been previously thought. That’s an important finding regarding whether the python population will expand further north into Central Florida where there are more gopher tortoise burrows for the snakes to use.
Opening Rookery Bay to participants of the 2016 Python Challenge won’t hinder their research efforts since the reserve is a live capture only site.
“FWC (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission) is going to supply two people to man that gate during the entire challenge,” said Curry. “They will have one of our radios that we need to be able to check all the snakes that are captured.”
The Python Challenge ends Feb. 14th. People who spot a Burmese Python are encouraged to report their sightings to the FWC’s Exotic Species Hotline at 888-IVE-GOT1, through the ivegot1 app for iphone or Adroid devices or online at IveGot1.org.
