A Burmese python in southern Florida was caught on video swallowing a 77-pound white-tailed deer, a feat that biologists say proves that the invasive predators are capable of consuming bigger prey than what was previously thought.
In a study published in August by the University of Kansas’ Reptiles & Amphibians titled “Big pythons, big gape, and big prey,” biologists said that the deer, native to the Florida peninsula, is the equivalent of 66.9 percent of the snake’s body mass. The feeding was observed and captured on video by scientists in December 2022 and is part of a study intended to better understand what impacts pythons have on the environment.
“This was the most intense and impressive sight we have observed in 12 years of tracking pythons in southwestern Florida,” Ian Bartoszek, one of the study’s co-authors, told Live Science. “It was truly primal and felt like a scene that had been playing out for millions of years wherever you have large snakes.
“Unfortunately our native wildlife in Florida have not evolved with this apex predator and you are seeing that result with these images.”
Photo by RHONA WISE/AFP via Getty Images
Scientists said in the study that the python that consumed the deer was the smallest snake included in their research. Two other snakes were also captured and observed to measure a python’s gape—the maximum size that the animal’s mouth can open.
All three snakes ranged from 15 to 19 feet in length and had a gape of 10.2 inches in diameter, or a 32-inch circumference. That exceeds the previously observed maximum gape for pythons of 8.66 inches.
Newsweek reached out to the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, which published the study, via email on Thursday for more information.
Scientists have long grappled with how to control the population of pythons in Florida. The species, which is native to Asia, was first spotted in the Everglades in 1979 and has since exploded in population, causing destruction to the local ecosystem. Pythons are considered an apex predator, meaning that they are not preyed upon by any other animal.
One way the state has taken steps to help subdue the python population is by holding an annual Python Challenge, which allows people to hunt the snakes for a reward. Participants can win more than $25,000 in cash. The challenge this year ran from August 9 to 18.
One of the largest pythons ever spotted in the Everglades was captured in 2022 and measured nearly 18 feet. The female was carrying 122 eggs at the time and weighed 215 pounds.
