Study finds Burmese pythons can eat prey larger than previously thought

By Dean Murray via SWNS

Look away those with a fear of snakes - Burmese pythons can consume prey even larger than scientists realized, according to a new study.

University of Cincinnati Professor Bruce Jayne said measurements of snakes captured in and around Everglades National Park show that the biggest pythons have an even bigger gape than mathematical models would suggest.

The largest snakes had a gape circumference of more than 81 centimeters — the equivalent of a 32-inch waist on a pair of trousers.

That means more animals are on the menu across southern Florida, where the nonnative, invasive snakes have decimated populations of foxes, bobcats, raccoons and other animals.

Pythons swallow deer, alligators and other prey whole. What they eat is limited in part by how big an animal they can wrap their flexible, stretchy jaws around. Researchers call this the snake’s gape.

Jayne examined three of the largest snakes captured by research partners Ian Easterling and Ian Bartoszek at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida measuring 15, 17 and 19 feet long.

Researchers previously examined pythons with a gape of 22 centimeters (or 8.7 inches) in diameter. But the largest of the snakes Jayne’s research partners captured had a maximal gape of 26 centimeters (or 10.2 inches).

“That doesn’t sound like a lot — just 18% bigger,” Jayne said.

Based on the prey items researchers found inside Burmese pythons, researchers know they will kill and consume animals nearly too big to swallow. Researchers observed one snake consuming a 77-pound deer, which represented two-thirds of the snake’s total mass.

“Watching an invasive apex predator swallow a full-sized deer in front of you is something that you will never forget,” Bartoszek said.” The impact the Burmese python is having on native wildlife cannot be denied. This is a wildlife issue of our time for the Greater Everglades ecosystem.”

Knowing the limits on the size of prey that predators can eat can help researchers predict the ecological impact the invasive snakes might have as they move into new areas.

The study was published in the journal Reptiles & Amphibians.