Released July 24, 2007
AUBURN UNIVERSITY, Ala. -- The dissected stomachs of Burmese pythons captured in the Florida Everglades speak volumes about the immense damage this latest invasive newcomer is causing the region’s fragile ecosystem.
“We’ve found everything from very small mammals — native mice, native cotton rats, rabbits, squirrels, possums, raccoons, even a bobcat, most recently the hooves of a deer,” says Skip Snow, a federal biologist in the Everglades National Park, who was quoted recently by The New York Times.
Like so many other invasive exotic animal species wreaking havoc throughout the country, particularly in the Sunshine State’s accommodating subtropical climate, the pythons, which can exceed 200 pounds and 20 feet, probably are descended from discards or escapees from the highly lucrative global trade of exotic species.
Biologists concluded in May 2006 that the pythons have established a permanent foothold in the Everglades when they detected the first eggs — 46 eggs in all, 44 of which were fertile. Shortly thereafter, they found even more — “another clutch of two dozen already hatched,” writes the Times’ Andrew C. Revkin, who adds that there are plenty of other telltale signs that colonization is under way.
The process isn’t limited only to the Everglades. Urban Floridians also are running up against pythons as well as Boa constrictors, another exotic tropical import.
Brian Fox, an Auburn University graduate student in wildlife sciences, has dealt with his share of nuisances associated with several species, not only as a professional wildlife biologist but as an ordinary citizen living in a part of Dade County heavily populated by people and exotic invasive animals alike.
One especially disturbing account, heavily reported by the local media, occurred when animal control authorities were dispatched to remove a huge python that had taken up residence under a private dwelling. A conspicuous lump in the snake’s trunk turned out to be the remains of a dog — a pet beagle of one of the neighboring residents.
Unfortunately for south Florida residents, venomous exotic species also have been discovered, including a hooded cobra roused by two migrant workers and a recovered black mamba that apparently had been intentionally released on Elliott Key, a Florida coastal island.
More benign species also are wreaking their share of havoc, including feral iguana lizards and peacocks, now common sights throughout parts of south Florida.
“You even see feral iguanas sunning themselves on the Florida Turnpike,” Fox says, adding that the iguanas have found an especially desirable habitat in the mangrove islands feeding on the eggs of herons and ibises.
Feral peacocks not only are impeding rush hour traffic but even pose mild physical threats to humans. Nature has equipped peacocks with sharp spurs much like their avian cousins, the rooster, which they are willing to use with reckless abandon whenever humans venture too closely.
Yet, as is often the case with exotic newcomers, feral peacocks have sparked a fierce political debate between peacock detractors — people who don’t like peacocks and would soon be rid of them — and peacock advocates who admire the birds for their grace, beauty and other attributes in spite of the mischief and environmental problems they may cause.
Ironically, Fox says, it’s hard to assess the environmental impact of peacocks and other nonnative species in urban Florida because virtually every other species that often passes as native in south Florida has been introduced from some other part of the world at on time or another.
Fortunately for Alabamians, our relatively cooler climate acts as a kind of natural barrier against many of the invasive species that are emerging in Florida, says Jim Armstrong, Extension wildlife specialist.
Even so, Armstrong fears that the problems in Florida ultimately may end up teaching all of us an important but tragic lesson about the potential hazards associated with many invasive species. For example, that pet beagle retrieved from the stomach of the enormous python could just as easily have been an infant or toddler.
“There are not a lot of things you can do to stop this problem and, unfortunately, it will probably take somebody being killed to focus public attention on just how serious this issue really is,” he says.
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http://www.aces.edu/department/extcomm/npa/daily/archives/003179.php
Contact: Jim Langcuster, langcjc@auburn.edu
