--- title: How Burmese Pythons Are Devouring the Florida Everglades description: Burmese pythons are eating machines. An adult snake can grow to nearly 20 ft., and it can eat everything from raccoons to bobcats to deer... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7219963/invaders-how-burmese-pythons-are-devouring-the-everglades/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2012-01-31T17:25:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-18T15:03:39.996Z article:section: Science og:title: How Burmese Pythons Are Devouring the Florida Everglades og:description: Burmese pythons are eating machines. An adult snake can grow to nearly 20 ft., and it can eat everything from raccoons to bobcats to deer... og:url: https://time.com/archive/7219963/invaders-how-burmese-pythons-are-devouring-the-everglades/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae0c0d82c1bd8b78/6998b6147323af124e2baadd/snake-4.jpg?branch=production&width=600&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 600 og:image:height: 338 og:image:alt: snake-4 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Burmese Pythons Are Devouring the Florida Everglades twitter:description: Burmese pythons are eating machines. An adult snake can grow to nearly 20 ft., and it can eat everything from raccoons to bobcats to deer... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae0c0d82c1bd8b78/6998b6147323af124e2baadd/snake-4.jpg?branch=production&width=600&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) # Invaders: How Burmese Pythons Are Devouring the Everglades > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Future Proof: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Future Proof is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Making sense of the climate and energy economy. Future Proof examines the forces transforming energy and climate, and what those changes mean for business, technology, policy and the global economy. 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Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=3152efcf-1ac3-4a61-8921-1e85be30df0d&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Jan 31, 2012 5:25 PM UTC  A Burmese python and an alligator fight in the Florida Everglades. The snakes are native to India and Southeast Asia, but they've established themselves in the wetlands of southern Florida, where they're causing havoc with local wildlife A Burmese python and an alligator fight in the Florida Everglades. The snakes are native to India and Southeast Asia, but they've established themselves in the wetlands of southern Florida, where they're causing havoc with local wildlife Courtesy U.S. Geological Survey/photo by Lori Oberhofer, National Park Service by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Jan 31, 2012 5:25 PM UTC Burmese pythons are [eating machines](http://www.nps.gov/ever/naturescience/burmesepython.htm). An adult snake can grow to nearly 20 ft., and it can eat everything from raccoons to bobcats to deer to alligators, killing its prey by constriction and then swallowing them whole. On the jungle food chain, Burmese pythons rest near the top. Burmese pythons are also — as the name might suggest — not local to the U.S. But they are a popular pet, imported to this country from their native habitat in India and Southeast Asia. And sometimes those pets escape from their owners or are simply let go — especially in Florida, a nexus of the imported wildlife trade and one of the few parts of the U.S. with a climate and landscape to which the pythons can easily adapt. That’s how hundreds or even thousands of Burmese pythons have [managed to establish themselves](http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/31/pythons-wiping-out-mammals-in-everglades-researchers-say/) in the Florida Everglades — the vast protected wetlands in the southern Florida — where they’ve become a persistent challenge for local officials tasked with protecting endangered wildlife. Now a [new study published](http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/01/23/1115226109.abstract) in this week’s _Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)_ suggests just how big a threat the invasive Burmese pythons have become. Researchers led by Michael Dorcas of Davidson College in North Carolina looked at the distribution of mammals in the Everglades nearly 20 years ago — before Burmese pythons established themselves in the area — and then more recently. They found a drastic reduction in the number of small mammals that are typically part of a python’s diet, and they also discovered that the remaining mammals tend to be most abundant in areas that are either clear of pythons or where the snakes have only recently been spotted. The evidence is strong enough to suggest that invasive Burmese pythons are causing significant wildlife loss in the Everglades — and that the problem could worsen as the snakes continues to grow. more (**MORE:** [Lake Invaders](http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2010202,00.html?iid=pw-eco)) Dorcas told the BBC that the Burmese pythons are rearranging the [food chain in the Everglades](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16791094): --- > “” --- While the snakes have been spotted in the Everglades for at least the past 20 years, they were only recognized as fully established in 2000\. Wildlife officials have tried to remove the snakes — 400 were taken out in 2009 — but the damage may already be done. The _PNAS_ researchers looked at data from detailed nighttime road surveys of the Everglades between 2003 and ’11, and compared that data with similar roadkill surveys taken between 1993 and ’99 and road surveys done in ’96 and ’97\. They found: * A 99.3% decrease in the frequency of raccoon observations. * A 98.9% decrease in the frequency of opossum observations. * A 87.5% decrease in the frequency of bobcat observations. * A total failure to detect any rabbits. (**MORE:** [The Benefits of Stopping Invasive Species Before They Invade](http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2011/08/18/the-benefits-of-stopping-invasive-species-before-they-invade/)) Since all of those animals can serve as a python’s dinner — and given the fact that the mammals were more common in areas where the pythons hadn’t been seen — it’s reasonable to infer that the Burmese pythons are treating the Everglades as an all-you-can-eat buffet. Here’s U.S. Geological Survey director [Marcia McNutt](http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=3087&from=rss%5Fhome): --- > “” --- The trouble is that it’s much easier to prevent invasive species from establishing themselves in new territory than it is to root them out once they’ve gotten comfortable. The Obama Administration [recently banned](http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/in-florida-everglades-pythons-and-anacondas-dominate-food-chain/2012/01/30/gIQAULTVdQ%5Fstory.html?tid=pm%5Fpop) the import and interstate commerce of Burmese pythons and a few other foreign snakes, but under pressure from the pet industry, other snakes including the boa constrictor are still allowed to be imported into the U.S. The wildlife trade is big business, and importers will resist any new rules. Reptiles alone are worth more than $2 billion, and according to American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, some 11 million reptiles were kept as pets as recently as 2005\. Andrew Wyatt, the head of the U.S. Association of Reptile Keepers, a trade group, [told the Washington _Post_](http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/in-florida-everglades-pythons-and-anacondas-dominate-food-chain/2012/01/30/gIQAULTVdQ%5Fstory.html?tid=pm%5Fpop) that the study’s authors had jumped to conclusions, and that other work had shown that mercury pollution in the water might be playing a major role in the deaths of small mammals. Perhaps — though the study is backed up by years of data and is published in one of the most reputable peer-reviewed journals in the world. In any case, invasive species pose a major threat to the U.S. — as I learned when I visited the Illinois River to [see invasive Asian carp ](http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2010/08/10/invasive-species-catchin-some-asian-carp/)— costing the country some $120 billion a year. And those pythons may not be standing still — the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports that they’re adapting to colder climates and may be expanding their range. Watch out — after all, humans are small mammals too. (**MORE:** [Mississippi Floods Could Spread Invasive Carp](http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2011/06/10/mississippi-floods-could-spread-the-invasive-asian-carp/)) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7219963/invaders-how-burmese-pythons-are-devouring-the-everglades/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7219963/invaders-how-burmese-pythons-are-devouring-the-everglades/"},"headline":"Invaders: How Burmese Pythons Are Devouring the Everglades","datePublished":"2012-01-31T17:25:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-18T15:03:39.996Z","description":"Burmese pythons are eating machines. 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