Guest guest Posted July 18, 2009 Report Share Posted July 18, 2009 > > Gov. Charlie Crist on Wednesday approved plans to begin capturing and > > killing Burmese pythons that have invaded the Everglades. All over the world, for nearly 100 million years, giant snakes such as pythons have thrived wherever there are abundant crocodilians, & are basically the major predator of crocodilians. A python will grab what's available, if hungry, but they typically take up to a week to digest their prey, so are not really voracious predators compared to mammals even as small as foxes, and are adapted to hunt crocodilians rather than mammals, who barely existed when pythons evolved. The constricting killing method used by a python takes the " death roll " behavior of an alligator or croc in a fight, used to drown the struggling prey, & uses it instead to kill the alligator or croc. The more vigorously the alligator or croc tries to roll, the tighter the python squeezes. An evolutionary fluke was that North America didn't have giant snakes. Now we do. They fill a vacant niche in the habitat, & will prove to be far more effective in controlling gators than human hunting, because they go all sorts of places that humans don't. Are pythons a threat to humans? In captivity, where they don't have access to there natural prey, the obvious answer is yes. They don't make good pets. Only a damned fool goes out & buys one. In the wild is a different story. The biggest pythons I have ever seen never paid any attention whatever to humans the several times I was near them in India. More significantly, pythons have rarely ever paid attention to women and their children on wash days throughout India and Southeast Asia. In more than 20 years of collecting info about animal attacks, I have collected many accounts of starving captive pythons eating the first small human they encounter, but cannot recall even one case of a wild python attacking anyone. Surely this has happened --but not very often. There really isn't much fear of pythons anywhere I have been -- whereas, there is much fear of saltwater crocs. Often washer women will deliberately set up near a python in a tree overhanging the water, if they see one, because they know that if a python is up the tree, a leopard or panther isn't, and if a salt water crocodile starts sneaking up on them, the python will grab it. Pythons are portrayed quite positively in Indian and Southeast Asian mythology, & one python more-or-less joined the pantheon after the December 2004 tsunami by pulling a woman and two children to safety after they were swept to sea. Explanation: having the woman & two children holding on to him kept the cold-blooded python warm as he swam from the cold deep water where they all found themselves back to the warmer shallows that are the python's normal habitat. -- Merritt Clifton Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE P.O. Box 960 Clinton, WA 98236 Telephone: 360-579-2505 Fax: 360-579-2575 E-mail: anmlpepl Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org [ANIMAL PEOPLE is the leading independent newspaper providing original investigative coverage of animal protection worldwide, founded in 1992. Our readership of 30,000-plus includes the decision-makers at more than 10,000 animal protection organizations. We have no alignment or affiliation with any other entity. $24/year; for free sample, send address.] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 18, 2009 Report Share Posted July 18, 2009 How difficult would it be to bring the Pythons back to South East Asia and get them released in the wild?They were smuggled from this very region and so maybe bringing them back can to some extent help the vacuum. Azam On Sat, Jul 18, 2009 at 2:08 PM, Merritt Clifton <anmlpeplwrote: > > > > > Gov. Charlie Crist on Wednesday approved plans to begin capturing and > > > killing Burmese pythons that have invaded the Everglades. > > All over the world, for nearly 100 million years, giant > snakes such as pythons have thrived wherever there are abundant > crocodilians, & are basically the major predator of crocodilians. > > A python will grab what's available, if hungry, but they > typically take up to a week to digest their prey, so are not really > voracious predators compared to mammals even as small as foxes, and > are adapted to hunt crocodilians rather than mammals, who barely > existed when pythons evolved. > > The constricting killing method used by a python takes the > " death roll " behavior of an alligator or croc in a fight, used to > drown the struggling prey, & uses it instead to kill the alligator or > croc. The more vigorously the alligator or croc tries to roll, the > tighter the python squeezes. > > An evolutionary fluke was that North America didn't have > giant snakes. Now we do. They fill a vacant niche in the habitat, > & will prove to be far more effective in controlling gators than > human hunting, because they go all sorts of places that humans don't. > > Are pythons a threat to humans? > > In captivity, where they don't have access to there natural > prey, the obvious answer is yes. They don't make good pets. Only a > damned fool goes out & buys one. > > In the wild is a different story. The biggest pythons I have > ever seen never paid any attention whatever to humans the several > times I was near them in India. More significantly, pythons have > rarely ever paid attention to women and their children on wash days > throughout India and Southeast Asia. > > In more than 20 years of collecting info about animal > attacks, I have collected many accounts of starving captive pythons > eating the first small human they encounter, but cannot recall even > one case of a wild python attacking anyone. Surely this has happened > --but not very often. There really isn't much fear of pythons > anywhere I have been -- whereas, there is much fear of saltwater > crocs. > > Often washer women will deliberately set up near a python in > a tree overhanging the water, if they see one, because they know > that if a python is up the tree, a leopard or panther isn't, and if > a salt water crocodile starts sneaking up on them, the python will > grab it. > > Pythons are portrayed quite positively in Indian and > Southeast Asian mythology, & one python more-or-less joined the > pantheon after the December 2004 tsunami by pulling a woman and two > children to safety after they were swept to sea. > > Explanation: having the woman & two children holding on to > him kept the cold-blooded python warm as he swam from the cold deep > water where they all found themselves back to the warmer shallows > that are the python's normal habitat. > > -- > Merritt Clifton > Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE > P.O. Box 960 > Clinton, WA 98236 > > Telephone: 360-579-2505 > Fax: 360-579-2575 > E-mail: anmlpepl <anmlpepl%40whidbey.com> > Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org > > [ANIMAL PEOPLE is the leading independent newspaper providing > original investigative coverage of animal protection worldwide, > founded in 1992. Our readership of 30,000-plus includes the > decision-makers at more than 10,000 animal protection organizations. > We have no alignment or affiliation with any other entity. $24/year; > for free sample, send address.] > > -- http://www.stopelephantpolo.com http://www.freewebs.com/azamsiddiqui Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 18, 2009 Report Share Posted July 18, 2009 >How difficult would it be to bring the Pythons back to South East >Asia and get them released in the wild? This would be approximately as difficult as trapping pythons out of the Sunderbans in order to move them all to Florida. There are by now many thousands of them, distributed throughout the swampier parts of Florida and other parts of the U.S. South. Climatic studies indicate that feral pythons could potentially survive in about 30% of the U.S., but since they need a prey base, their actual distribution potential is probably identical to that of alligators. -- Merritt Clifton Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE P.O. Box 960 Clinton, WA 98236 Telephone: 360-579-2505 Fax: 360-579-2575 E-mail: anmlpepl Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org [ANIMAL PEOPLE is the leading independent newspaper providing original investigative coverage of animal protection worldwide, founded in 1992. Our readership of 30,000-plus includes the decision-makers at more than 10,000 animal protection organizations. We have no alignment or affiliation with any other entity. $24/year; for free sample, send address.] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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