Quote:
Originally Posted by Blueblaze
Yes, snakes are (rather lousy) predators. I bet most of the rats they live on will adapt. I just find it really hard to get all that concerned about non-venomous pythons in the jungles of Florida .
|
May I gently suggest facts that may change your opinion about lack of harm from pythons as they are "rather lousy predators" The other species that used to populate the Everglades would beg to disagree if they had survived the python invasion.
Quote:
|
Pythons compete with native wildlife for food, which includes mammals, birds, and other reptiles. Severe declines in mammal populations throughout Everglades National Park have been linked to Burmese pythons, with the most severe declines in native species having occurred in the remote southernmost regions of the Park where pythons have been established the longest. A 2012 study found that populations of raccoons had declined 99.3 percent, opossums 98.9 percent, and bobcats 87.5 percent since 1997 (Mammal Decline). Marsh rabbits, cottontail rabbits, and foxes effectively disappeared over that time
|
Now 12 years after that data was collected it is so much more extensive with the pythons range extending beyond the areas where they were found in 2012.