The World Of Danger
Cats, dogs, deer, even the terrifying alligators that used to rule supreme in these morasses, have fallen prey to a creature that can grow to gargantuan proportions. And they will kill humans, too.
Just last week, one 17ft monster strangled a two-year-old as she slept in her cot. It sounds like an urban myth, or the plot of a lurid B-movie. But this particular horror story is real. For many, too real.
For the Everglades, that vast area of swampland in southern Florida, is being overrun by a new super-predator, a foreign invader who is vying with the indigenous alligator to sit at the top of the food chain.
And it is wreaking havoc in one of the world’s most precious and fragile ecosystems, which attracts tourists in droves.
The impostors, which have been lurking in these swamps for the past 17 years, are huge Burmese pythons, many of whom are descended from pet-shop specimens that escaped from captivity during the mayhem of Hurricane Andrew.
Finding themselves in an almost perfect environment, one full of food and totally devoid of predators - apart from the alligators - the carnivorous pythons, some of the world’s largest reptiles, have thrived.
And the locals are now getting worried. In February this year, a group of astonished tourists at Pahayokee witnessed a ferocious battle between an alligator and a python.
At first, the snake had the upper hand, wrapping itself around the alligator as it attempted to crush it in its coils (these snakes are capable of exerting forces of several tons, shattering the ribcages and spines of their victims).
But on this occasion, the native reptile was no pushover. The alligator managed to lock the snake in its jaws, and rolled it over and over in a traditional death wrestle. It was last seen swimming off with the still-thrashing 10ft snake gripped in its mouth.
Several such battles have now been witnessed as the two ‘apex’ predators battle for supremacy in a wilderness big enough for only one of them
This python bit off more than it could chew after dining on a pregnant sheep in Malaysia.
Pythons are not venomous but kill their prey by locking it in their jaws, which boast powerful, backward-facing teeth and then crush it in their coils.
Growing problem: An Everglades National Park Ranger holds the tail of a 10-foot Burmese python caught in the park.
Since 2004, more than 140,000 pythons have been brought into the U.S, selling in pet shops as ‘babies’ for about $20 (£12). But many are later set free or escape. It is estimated that 100,000 of the animals now live in the swamps and forests of Florida alone.
Part of their success is down to their ability to gorge on huge meals - and then go without food for months.
After a big kill, the snake’s insides literally remodel themselves to cope with such a feast. Their heart grows in size to produce more blood for digestion, extra stomach acid is produced and the intestines rearrange themselves.
But while they are ferocious predators in the wild, as youngsters and even when fully grown, the snakes often make intelligent, even affectionate pets.
Crucially, pythons are not venomous. Instead, they kill their prey by locking it in their jaws, which boast powerful, backward-facing teeth, then crushing it in their coils. They then swallow it whole
A boy’s best friend: Sambath Uon from Cambodia refuses to go to bed without his 20ft Burmese pet python aptly named Lucky.
These deliberately released pets have added substantially to Florida’s original escapee population, which began breeding in the early 1990s. And their numbers will only increase.
The Burmese python is most at home in the jungles of South-east Asia, where, ironically, they are endangered. Unfortunately, they are beginning to upset the fragile ecosystem of the Everglades, proving themselves to be a major threat to native species ill-equipped to fend off this alien super-predator.
Rangers have started hunting some of the snakes, killing them or giving them to zoos, but the creatures seem to be going from strength to strength.
Some naturalists even predict that they could eventually colonise the entire South- eastern third of the U.S. (fortunately, our British climate is too cold for a Burmese python to survive for long in the wild). This would make the Burmese python America’s most common and dangerous large predator - a predator, we now know who will kill a human.
The toddler in Orlando was strangled by an escaped pet, but sooner or later, say wildlife experts and politicians, someone will be killed by a wild specimen. And perhaps the victim will be a tourist, a risk Florida is unwilling to take. Indeed, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is now in favour of a widespread cull.
