{"id":416902,"date":"2026-10-02T16:34:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T16:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/416902\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T16:34:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T16:34:07","slug":"adult-female-pythons-cause-the-most-trouble-in-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/416902\/","title":{"rendered":"Adult female pythons cause the most trouble in Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Burmese python<\/a> (Python bivittatus) is such a problem for Florida that it\u2019s legal to hunt the massive invasive species<\/a> throughout the year. The state even hosts an annual 10-day competition<\/a> that challenges participants to bag as many snakes as possible. But a free-for-all approach may not be the best way to cull Florida\u2019s estimated 100,000\u2013300,000 of these predators. In a study published in the journal Ecological Applications<\/a>, conservationists argue that if you really want to make a dent, you need to be more selective about your targets.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur previous work treated all Burmese pythons as contributing equally to the population,\u201d University of Florida (UF) Croc Doc Wildlife Research Team ecologist Alex Romer<\/a> said in a recent profile<\/a>. \u201cBut removing the biggest female we\u2019ve ever caught is very different from removing a tiny snake that might not survive next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Romer and his colleagues analyzed data from South Florida Water Management District\u2019s Python Elimination Program to develop a new system called the Weighted Removal Index (WRI). Points are awarded to a snake depending on various factors including its age, sex, and what time of year it may have been killed. For example, younger snakes don\u2019t garner a higher index ranking because of their high mortality rate.Adolescent reptiles often don\u2019t often survive long enough to breed, so a hunter\u2019s efforts are best directed elsewhere. For the largest impact, researchers suggest pursuing mature female pythons.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery Burmese python removed is a win for the Everglades, but targeting large reproductive females is likely to reduce the population most effectively,\u201d explained UF invasive ecologist Melissa Miller<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea is that a big female might be worth 100 arbitrary ecological points, while a little snake might be worth five,\u201d added Romer.<\/p>\n

The team believes that this strategy could be particularly successful along regional borders of the python invasion. An adult female regularly lays around 70 eggs at a time, so removing them from these sites will slow their offspring\u2019s expansion into new areas.<\/p>\n

Their findings also pointed to a potentially unexpected conclusion. While Florida runs its annual python hunting challenge in the summer, organizers may want to consider rescheduling it during the winter. Data indicates that although fewer pythons are removed in months like January or February, their WRI ratings are much higher because they are mostly adults.<\/p>\n

\u201cCombining and plugging this knowledge into models\u2026can be a game changer that can really make a difference in the battle to combat these invaders,\u201d added biologist and study co-author Sergio Balaguera-Reina<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Andrew Paul is a staff writer for Popular Science.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Burmese python (Python bivittatus) is such a problem for Florida that it\u2019s legal to hunt the massive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,4615,115],"class_list":["post-416902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-invasive-species","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}