December 6, 2017

Seventy years ago today, on Dec. 6, 1947, United States President Harry S. Truman officially opened southwestern Florida’s Everglades National Park. The park was established to conserve parts of the Everglades wetlands and the Big Cypress Swamp, as well as many coastal islands along the Gulf of Mexico. Covering 1,508,976 acres (610,661 hectares), the junglelike plant life of Everglades National Park includes saw grass, delicate orchids, lacy cypress trees, pines, palms, and thick tangles of mangrove trees. Crocodiles, alligators, manatees, and many other animal species live there.

Everglades National Park is in the Florida Everglades, one of the few subtropical regions of the United States. The southern part of the park includes many red mangrove trees, whose spreading roots catch and hold soil. Credit: National Park Service

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, land developers tried to drain parts of the Everglades wetlands, intending to turn the area into valuable real estate properties. Canals and levees diverted water from both the Everglades and nearby Lake Okeechobee, damaging the wetlands. Conservation efforts led to the creation of Royal Palm State Park in 1916, a protected area that steadily expanded and became the basis for Everglades National Park.

Everglades National Park includes large areas of wetlands that provide a home for wildlife. In this picture, roseate spoonbills wade near a young alligator. Credit: © Shutterstock

Further degradation of the Everglades—made worse by rising sea levels and heavy traffic on the park’s roads and waterways—sparked the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan in 2000, a 35- to 50-year project meant to “restore, preserve, and protect the south Florida ecosystem while providing for other water-related needs of the region.”

March 20, 2014

Everglades National Park, in the Florida Everglades, has a major problem with invasive species, including the giant Burmese python (National Park Service).

Giant Burmese pythons have a magnetic sense that directs them “home” over vast distances, scientists announced yesterday in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters. To study how these invasive predators migrate and spread, scientists captured and relocated 12 pythons in Florida’s Everglades National Park. The huge snakes were fitted with GPS radio transmitters. Half were released where they were captured; the other half was transported to other areas in the park—13 to 23 miles (21 to 36 kilometers) from where they were captured. Using aircraft to track their movements, the scientists were amazed to discover that 5 of the 6 pythons quickly returned to within 3 miles (5 kilometers) of the place where they had been captured. “We were very surprised,” noted the study’s lead author Shannon Pittman of Davidson College in North Carolina. “We anticipated the pythons would develop new home ranges where they were released. We didn’t expect them to orient back to their capture locations.” Pittman stated that the experiment provided the first evidence that snakes may share a similar magnetic sense as other reptiles, such as sea turtles. Dr. Pittman suggested that staying in familiar territory may help snakes find prey and mates, and this homing sense may allow them to return to their territory after exploratory forays. “We know that snakes tend to come back to some of the same sites throughout their lives such as overwintering locations or refuges.”

The Burmese python, a native of Southeast Asia, has become established in the Everglades as a result of people dumping unwanted pet pythons. One of the largest snakes in the world, the python has been measured at more than 15 feet (4.5 meters) and weighing in excess of 160 pounds (72.5 kilograms). The snakes coil around a prey animal and suffocate it. Pythons have been known to kill and swallow adult alligators and have been blamed for a staggering decline in the numbers of native mammals in the Everglades. Conservation surveys conducted between 2003 and 2011 documented a 9.3-percent decrease in the frequency of raccoon observations and decreases of 98.9 percent and 87.5 percent in opossum and bobcat observations, respectively. No native marsh rabbits were detected during the entire length of the survey. Understanding how invasive pythons migrate could help control their spread in Florida, Pittman told BBC news.

Additional World Book articles:

• Invasive Species (a special report)
• New Top Predator? Pythons in the Everglades

January 23, 2013

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is holding what it calls the “Python Challenge 2013,” the state’s first-ever, open-invitation hunting contest. The challenge, which was launched on January 12, is a one-month python hunt in South Florida. Wildlife officials hope the contest will help control the spread of Burmese pythons, which have come to dominate wildlife in the Florida Everglades. Pythons are known to be battling alligators for the position of top predator in Everglades National Park, and native mammals are paying the price, according to a study by two Florida university researchers. The 2012 study was the first to provide evidence linking a sharp decline in populations of medium- and large-sized mammals in the park to an explosion in the number and range of the large and prolific snakes.

The state has set three contest requirements: Contestants must be 18 years of age; contestants must take an online training course; and contestants can only hunt on state land, not in the national park, which is off limits. The hunter who takes the largest snake will receive a prize of $1,000. The hunter who “harvests” the most snakes will be awarded $1,500. Approximately 1,300 people have signed up for the hunt.

Native to Southeast Asia, the python is classified as an invasive species in North America. From 1999 to 2004, pet exporters met a growing American demand for Burmese pythons by shipping more than 144,000 baby snakes to the United States. However, new owners were frequently unprepared or unwilling to care for the grown snakes, which can measure 23 feet (7 meters) in length and weigh 200 pounds (91 kilograms). Many owners dumped their snakes into the wild. Pythons released into the Florida Everglades, a region with a climate similar to that of the snakes’ native habitat, flourished. Pythons also have escaped into the wild during hurricanes.

Additional World Book articles:

• Ecology
• Invasive Species (A Special Report)
• Reptile