PBS and NPR for Southwest Florida
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Python Caught Eating Deer in SWFL

Courtesy of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida
The caught Burmese python exhibits a food bulge.

A Burmese python was discovered eating a white-tailed deer at a state park in Southwest Florida.

The Conservancy of Southwest Florida has documented what is believed to be the largest predator-to-prey ratio by a Burmese python.

The 11-foot, 31.5-pound female python was found eating a 35-pound white-tailed deer, which was more than 111 percent of the python’s own mass. It didn’t survive the meal.

A team of land managers and biologists discovered the python at Collier-Seminole State Park, where the animal exhibited a food bulge.

The discovery suggests pythons may adversely affect the environment, particularly in young deer populations,which are a food source for the federally protected Florida panther.

The Conservancy’s findings will be published in the March issue of the Herpetological Review, a publication dedicated to the studies of amphibians and reptiles.