from the please-dispose-of-your-serpents-properly dept.
In total, 11 pythons were caught, with one exceeding 16 feet [4.9m] in length:
What would have been a bad dream for many was a massive win for the Florida wildlife experts who discovered a 7-foot-wide, 500-lb. pile of invasive Burmese pythons.
The snakes, which are not indigenous to the region and have significantly disrupted Florida's ecosystem for more than four decades, were discovered on Feb. 21 in a marsh near Naples, per the Miami Herald.
[...] According to the Miami Herald, the pythons were located using novel implants researchers inserted in male "scout snakes." Once the snakes were set free, those tracking them could follow a signal emitted from the reptiles into remote areas.
500 pounds of python caught when mating rituals revealed in Florida marsh, team says:
Burmese pythons are native to Southeast Asia and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission suspects they made their way into the wilds of Florida as exotic pets that escaped or were intentionally released.
Necropsies have revealed they are eating at least 24 species of mammal, 47 species of bird and three reptile species in South Florida, according to University of Florida research.
In one case, a 31.5-pound python ate a 35-pound deer. "We see the remains of deer inside pythons often. This is concerning and it should sound an alarm." Bartoszek says.
Even more frightening is the fact they may be expanding their turf to the north and showing up in seemingly impossible places. In 2017, a python was found in open water nearly 15 miles off the coast of southwest Florida, Bartoszek wrote in a scientific note published in Herpetological Review.
The conservancy — one of Florida's largest environmental organizations — was among the first to take action, launching a ground war that has lasted more than a decade.
[...] "It's a big Everglades. I'm not declaring victory by any stretch, but we are winning key battles. We feel like we are attempting to hold the line around Naples while we all wait for additional control tools to develop," Bartoszek says.
"There's an area where we had four active scouts and they have not found us a female in that sector this season. ... We are cautiously optimistic, you can't take (1,300) snakes out of the equation and not make an impact."
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Freeman on Tuesday March 26 2024, @01:48PM (10 children)
The Pythons that are loose in the Everglades are considered a pest. I'm also pretty sure the Pythons are winning. Even with this 500 pound find.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Tuesday March 26 2024, @02:53PM (9 children)
If you've ever tried Perl, you know why.
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Tuesday March 26 2024, @04:25PM (1 child)
At least Perls don't mate the way Pythons do.
Poverty exists not because we cannot feed the poor, but because we cannot satisfy the rich.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Tuesday March 26 2024, @07:58PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bart9h on Tuesday March 26 2024, @05:35PM (6 children)
Seems like I am the only one around here that is fond of Perl.
It is certainly not ideal for every situation, and use other languages a lot. But Perl is the language I enjoy the most.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Tuesday March 26 2024, @06:01PM
Are you on the shortlist of people to help this site? It's okay if you don't want to answer and reveal. I've dabbled in perl, wouldn't mind learning it if I had a strong reason.
(Score: 2) by Whoever on Tuesday March 26 2024, @07:56PM (4 children)
Count me in as another person using/liking Perl
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Unixnut on Wednesday March 27 2024, @09:39AM (3 children)
And third here, although interestingly I learned Python first and after more than a decade started switching over to Perl for my day-to-day scripting/automation needs. In many ways I find it amazing and I have no idea why it is maligned so much (although I suspect like C++ it is due to people who don't understand the language properly, applying it in ways that don't play to its strengths).
At a recent job interview when I mentioned I was learning Perl I actually got a look of disgust from the interviewer, with an incredulous "what on earth for?" question. Perl does seem to be either loved or hated.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by Zinho on Thursday March 28 2024, @04:55PM (2 children)
Well, it is one of the only write-only computer languages. That's the sort of thing that type-A personalities just are not down for.
(proud type-B with a Camel book on my shelf)
"Space Exploration is not endless circles in low earth orbit." -Buzz Aldrin
(Score: 3, Informative) by Whoever on Thursday March 28 2024, @06:22PM
I probably learned more from this book:
https://www.manning.com/books/object-oriented-perl [manning.com]
The above book shows how to roll your own OO in Perl, not using Moose or the other OO packages.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Unixnut on Friday March 29 2024, @09:13AM
Lol I actually had to go read what Type-A/B Personalities were. Having had a read I think in my case I am a mix, probably tending a bit more towards type-B.
In my opinion whether a language us "write only" is more to do with the programmer than the language. Perhaps I betray my Python roots but most of the Perl I write tends to be clear, structured and well indented. It doesn't look write only to me when I re-read it, even years later.
On the flip side, you can pretty much make any language unreadable. The "obfuscated $language contest" competitions are testament to that :-)
The great thing about Perl for me is that it is the only language where I don't have a "conversion step" in my mind. For every other language, I first think about what logic I want to implement, then there is a step of "Ok how to implement this in Python" (for example) which involves me adapting my logic to fit the language, then I write it out as normal.
With Perl, it seems to flow from my mind into code, and it just works. Perl feels more like a human language than the other ones, which are "one step removed" from human languages, requiring the conversion step mentioned above. That is unique to Perl to my knowledge and like most human languages, it is not the most logical and cleanest language out there. It also evolves piecemeal over the years, sometimes in odd directions that don't work out.
Another nice thing is that Perl is less verbose than Python. When I re-wrote my Python scripts to Perl as practice, the Perl equivalents tended to be 30-50% less text for the same logic flow. That is quite a saving on typing over many thousands of lines of code.
As for what got me interested in learning Perl, it was when fate furnished me with "Learning Perl, 2nd edition", the Foreword on that one really inspired me that the Perl hackers culture was more the kind of place I wanted to spend time.
(Score: 4, Funny) by turgid on Tuesday March 26 2024, @02:25PM (7 children)
Get shootin'!
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 3, Informative) by Freeman on Tuesday March 26 2024, @02:41PM (1 child)
Seems like they're fair game:
Hunting Pythons in Florida: All You Need to Know [southfloridafishingandhunting.com]
https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/nonnatives/python/humane-killing-methods/ [myfwc.com]
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by lars_stefan_axelsson on Wednesday March 27 2024, @09:58AM
That sounds odd to my foreign ears. If you want to eradicate a species then trapping is in general the way to go. It's typically much more efficient than all other forms of hunting.
And tracking/detecting with dogs (esp. a free running dog) is much more efficient than other techniques. But admittedly depending on the eco-system at large, free running dogs can be problematic. Here in Sweden though, if you hunt larger game (and some bird species) then having access to a tracking dog is mandated by law. You have to have one available within two hours to track wounded animals. (And we most often hunt larger game with free running tracking dogs.)
Now I don't know if there are any native species that could be caught as by-catch in traps, or if trapping python is especially difficult, but there seems to be efficient designs for trapping large snakes. https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/ja/ja_burgdorf001.pdf [usda.gov] (PDF)
When it comes to shooting snakes, forget about rifles (high capacity semi-autos or otherwise). Fine shot from a shotgun is the ticket. You can go exceptionally small with e.g. .410 with fine shot. There's also less risk of ricochets (and easier to deal with by wearing eye protection) which is always a concern when shooting at the ground close by.
I would assume the same is true in Australia. Shotgun: All the time. Every time. :)
Stefan Axelsson
(Score: 2, Interesting) by crotherm on Tuesday March 26 2024, @03:41PM (1 child)
Where are the recipes? The only snake I've tried is rattle snake, and is was good.
(Score: 3, Funny) by RS3 on Tuesday March 26 2024, @06:03PM
Taste like chicken?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by jb on Wednesday March 27 2024, @12:23AM (1 child)
I don't know Burmese pythons in particular, but speaking as someone who lives in Australia where we have plenty of snakes, in general terms shooting a snake is a TERRIBLE idea: if you miss, you'll just anger the snake and it will attack you before you get time to reload.
If put in a situation where you HAVE to kill a snake (usually better just to walk away, but sometimes you don't get a choice), the best way is to cut its head off. It's pretty hard to miss with a blade that's an order of magnitude longer than the width of the snake ... but all too easy to miss with a bullet that's much narrower than the snake (especially if the snake has seen you, so is already skittish).
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 27 2024, @02:14AM
Here in the USA, we all have assault rifles capable of at least thirty shots before needing to reload.
(Score: 4, Funny) by driverless on Wednesday March 27 2024, @10:08AM
In unrelated news, the Naples Taco Bell is having an all-you-can-eat special for Super-Grande Tacos, until they run out of the 500lb of meat they have in the cooler.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Tuesday March 26 2024, @02:55PM (2 children)
Of course. That's why they're not called Miamese pythons.
(Score: 5, Funny) by turgid on Tuesday March 26 2024, @04:29PM (1 child)
If they were in Canada would they be Mounty Pythons?
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 26 2024, @06:09PM
Hosers (the long tubular shape. Oh nevermind).
(Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday March 26 2024, @03:44PM (6 children)
Wouldn't the worst nightmare be 500lbs of snakes loose on a plane with you at 30,000 feet? Anyway:
>In 2017, a python was found in open water nearly 15 miles off the coast of southwest Florida
If you've ever been to the beach in SouthWest Florida, especially in the summer (with no Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico) this is a lot more plausible than it sounds. It's warm, and can be glassy calm for miles offshore. If the snake floats, getting 15 miles offshore is not so hard to imagine - whether it ever gets back to the beach is another question, but once it decided to swim "into the West" it can be pretty smooth going out there.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday March 26 2024, @04:01PM (1 child)
Your scenario is a lot more nightmarish than 500lb of snakes found in the swamp. Queue surprised look at finding pythons in the swamp. I would most definitely not want to meet a Python out in the ocean. Humans aren't that good at swimming.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Funny) by cereal_burpist on Thursday March 28 2024, @03:09AM
(Score: 3, Touché) by DannyB on Tuesday March 26 2024, @04:29PM (3 children)
I can think of a worse night mirror:
Man stung in testicles by scorpion while sleeping at Las Vegas Strip resort [youtube.com]
Poverty exists not because we cannot feed the poor, but because we cannot satisfy the rich.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Tork on Tuesday March 26 2024, @04:31PM (1 child)
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday March 26 2024, @06:18PM
The video is a news broadcast.
Poverty exists not because we cannot feed the poor, but because we cannot satisfy the rich.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday March 26 2024, @04:33PM
Well instead of 11 giant pythons, I was more thinking of an Indiana Jones style snake pit with a variety... some big constrictors, but lots of little venomous ones too... they can bite all kinds of places with all kinds of venom...
The Miami Serpentarium kept such a pit filled with all kinds of live snakes and was open as a tourist attraction when I started University just down the street:
https://www.miamiserpentarium.com/ [miamiserpentarium.com]
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 4, Funny) by istartedi on Tuesday March 26 2024, @05:03PM (2 children)
Let me guess. They were all dependent on each other, and nobody could figure out how to untangle that mess.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday March 26 2024, @05:04PM
You just have to keep track of the versions...
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by The Vocal Minority on Wednesday March 27 2024, @03:16AM
Thanks for triggering my PTSD
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RamiK on Tuesday March 26 2024, @09:14PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt29cBn9ppk [youtube.com]
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