Python/Mammal study - Scary.
Hickory Dog
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Pythons Eating Through Everglades Mammals at "Astonishing" Rate?
"Dramatic" declines of everything from rabbits to bobcats documented.
From rabbits to deer to even bobcats, invasive Burmese pythons appear to be eating through the Everglades' supply of mammals, new research shows.
Since the giant constrictors took hold in Florida in 2000, many previously common mammals have plummeted in number—and some, such as cottontail rabbits, may be totally gone from some areas.
Scientists already knew from dissecting the 20-foot (6-meter) snakes that they prey on a wide range of species within Everglades National Park. (See a picture of a Burmese python that exploded eating an American alligator in the Everglades.)
But this is "the first study to show that pythons are having impacts on prey populations—and unfortunately those impacts appear to be pretty dramatic," said study leader Michael Dorcas, a herpetologist at Davidson College in North Carolina.
"We started the study after we realized, Man, we're not seeing a lot of these animals around anymore," Dorcas said.
But "when we did the calculations, we were pretty astonished."
(See "Alien Giant Snakes Threaten to Invade Up to a Third of U.S.")
Burmese Pythons Causing "Severe Declines"?
For the study, Dorcas and colleagues conducted nighttime surveys of live and dead animals on roads between 2003 and 2011. Such numbers provide estimates of how many animals of a certain species are present in a given area.
The scientists compared these data with similar surveys conducted in 1996 and 1997.
Before 2000 it was common to see mammals such as rabbits, red foxes, gray foxes, Virginia opossums, raccoons, and white-tailed deer on roadways after dark, the team says.
But the 2003 to 2011 surveys—which covered a total of nearly 35,400 miles (57,000) kilometers of road—revealed "severe declines" in mammal sightings, according to the study, published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Raccoon observations dropped by 99.3 percent, opossum by 98.9 percent, and bobcat by 87.5 percent. The scientists saw no rabbits or foxes at all during their surveys.
(Read about giant Burmese python meals that went bust.)
Also worrisome is what could be happening to species that were already rare—and thus more difficult to research, Dorcas noted.
For instance, it's unknown whether the snakes are putting the squeeze on the Florida panther, a subspecies of cougar deemed endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
But "it's not unreasonable to assume that a really large python could consume a Florida panther," he said—the snakes are known to eat leopards in Southeast Asia.
(See "Hybrid Panthers Helping Rare Cat Rebound in Florida.")
Impact of Everglades Mammal Decline Unknown
It's difficult to predict how the decline in mammal populations will affect the Everglades, Dorcas said. (See Everglades pictures.)
"Dramatic" declines of everything from rabbits to bobcats documented.
From rabbits to deer to even bobcats, invasive Burmese pythons appear to be eating through the Everglades' supply of mammals, new research shows.
Since the giant constrictors took hold in Florida in 2000, many previously common mammals have plummeted in number—and some, such as cottontail rabbits, may be totally gone from some areas.
Scientists already knew from dissecting the 20-foot (6-meter) snakes that they prey on a wide range of species within Everglades National Park. (See a picture of a Burmese python that exploded eating an American alligator in the Everglades.)
But this is "the first study to show that pythons are having impacts on prey populations—and unfortunately those impacts appear to be pretty dramatic," said study leader Michael Dorcas, a herpetologist at Davidson College in North Carolina.
"We started the study after we realized, Man, we're not seeing a lot of these animals around anymore," Dorcas said.
But "when we did the calculations, we were pretty astonished."
(See "Alien Giant Snakes Threaten to Invade Up to a Third of U.S.")
Burmese Pythons Causing "Severe Declines"?
For the study, Dorcas and colleagues conducted nighttime surveys of live and dead animals on roads between 2003 and 2011. Such numbers provide estimates of how many animals of a certain species are present in a given area.
The scientists compared these data with similar surveys conducted in 1996 and 1997.
Before 2000 it was common to see mammals such as rabbits, red foxes, gray foxes, Virginia opossums, raccoons, and white-tailed deer on roadways after dark, the team says.
But the 2003 to 2011 surveys—which covered a total of nearly 35,400 miles (57,000) kilometers of road—revealed "severe declines" in mammal sightings, according to the study, published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Raccoon observations dropped by 99.3 percent, opossum by 98.9 percent, and bobcat by 87.5 percent. The scientists saw no rabbits or foxes at all during their surveys.
(Read about giant Burmese python meals that went bust.)
Also worrisome is what could be happening to species that were already rare—and thus more difficult to research, Dorcas noted.
For instance, it's unknown whether the snakes are putting the squeeze on the Florida panther, a subspecies of cougar deemed endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
But "it's not unreasonable to assume that a really large python could consume a Florida panther," he said—the snakes are known to eat leopards in Southeast Asia.
(See "Hybrid Panthers Helping Rare Cat Rebound in Florida.")
Impact of Everglades Mammal Decline Unknown
It's difficult to predict how the decline in mammal populations will affect the Everglades, Dorcas said. (See Everglades pictures.)
Replies
If you told people(rednecks) you can kill them at will, with no permit, licenses, red tape etc and the there will be prizes for the largest/most killed, we could put the hurt on their population.
I wouldn't worry too much about it - Tater will be along in a minute to explain how the study is flawed because it is just some career academic looking to maintain his grant funding from PythonProtector brand anti python collars for dogs.
Thats always boggled my mind.
Frick, open a commercial season on them bad boys.......2 years MAX, they'd be wiped out
http://www.npr.org/2012/01/31/146124073/pythons-blamed-for-everglades-disappearing-animals
To make a real dent in the population, the State is going to have to attract those with a specific skillset and mindset to go out and harvest them in sign. There has to be a monetary gain to make this happen. You cannot expect people to do it without at least covering their costs.
The problem is both political and economic.
First of all there is some market for python hides. But the trade in python hides, even in the case of these invasive exotics, is controlled and regulated by CITES Apendex II. Just like Alligators. Even if they opened it up to a free for all (and CITES is international so fat luck of that happening) I doubt the exotic leather trade would stand for it. No way they want 400 dollar python boots sitting on store shelves to devalue to almost nothing. Plus the market for consumer goods made from exotic skins is only so big. Throw ten thousand Burmese hides into the market in a short time period and bad things will happen.
The political side is no less complex. Passing laws prohibiting trade on live animals is a feel good. Nothing more. The problem is there already. Stopping live trade in large snakes is not going to do anything at this point other than cost jobs in the pet trade. If the state and feds want to accomplish anything, the are going to have to place a bounty on the snakes. And not a ten dollar, twenty dollar, etc bounty. It has to be a real bounty that will attract people that have the skills to collect significant numbers. To do it right, people are going to incur costs. Example: a two or three man team spending the weekend collecting is going to rack up several hundred bucks in expenses.
There are no easy answers. But if something is not done, they will be statewide and beyond.
Won't hurt for the mean time. Beats doing nothing but talking about the rest of the issues you mentioned.
http://www.aquadreamliving.com/
Best idea on this form so far this year!
--Abraham Lincoln
"Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." Niels Bohr
Cause that makes entirely too much sense.
Exactly. Probably would cut down on the redneck population at tyhe same time.
There you go Johnny Bandit. You could get in at the beginning of a new business model. You could train dogs to find snakes and rent or sell them to hunter or the NPS. It's a win win, you love working with dogs and the environment would be better off.
"Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." Niels Bohr
Venomous snakes have always been brought in. Florida has a small but active group of venomous hobbyists. Little chance of them being a problem. A bigger concern is that Miami is the point of entry for most reptiles. Escapes from wholesalers are a bigger concern.
http://www.takepart.com/blog-series/paw-and-order/2012/02/12/army-hires-aussie-dogs-hunt-pythons-everglades
"The greatest pleasure is to vanquish your enemies and chase them before you, to rob them of their wealth and see those dear to them bathed in tears, to ride their horses and clasp to your bosom their wives and daughters."