WATCH: Burmese python swallows 77-pound deer, proving they can eat bigger prey than scientists realized
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – A new study conducted by biologists with the Conservancy of Southwest Florida reveals that Burmese pythons are capable of consuming larger prey than scientists previously realized. The study, published in the Journal of Reptiles & Amphibians, revealed that the snakes have a bigger gape, which is the size that they can stretch their jaws open.
"This means that more animals are on the menu," the Conservancy of Southwest Florida said.
Pythons are able to swallow large animals like deer and alligators. So, biologists Ian Bartoszek and Ian Easterling collaborated with Dr. Bruce Jayne from the Department of Biological Science at the University of Cincinnati and set out to measure the maximum gape in Burmese pythons.
In South Florida, a measurement on the longest Burmese python, at 19 feet, along with two other large snakes, at 15 and 17 feet, proved that the snakes have a bigger gape than previous mathematical models suggest.
Prior studies found the largest gape diameter to be 8.7 inches, while the new study showed a maximal gape of 10.2 inches. The measurements equate to a circumference of 32 inches.
The python's wide jaws and elastic skin allow these snakes to consume prey six times larger than other snake species, the Conservancy said.
"These snakes resemble overachievers by sometimes testing the limits of what their anatomy allows rather than being slackers that eat only ‘snack size’ prey,” Dr. Jayne said.
The scientists studied three adult female Burmese pythons. As one of those snakes was ingesting a 77-pound white-tailed deer, they discovered the deer was 66.9% of the snake's mass.
Over the past 12 years, roughly 770 pythons have been removed from southwest Florida by the Conservancy's team. Dr. Jayne estimates that if each of the snakes ate one deer as big as they can swallow, it would come out to nearly 13,000 pounds of deer.
“Watching an invasive apex predator swallow a full-sized deer in front of you is something that you will never forget," Biologist Bartoszek said. "The impact the Burmese python is having on native wildlife cannot be denied. This is a wildlife issue of our time for the Greater Everglades ecosystem.”
As of October 2024, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida has removed more than 36,000 pounds of python from Southwest Florida and 120 have been radio-tagged and tracked to better understand the species.
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