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There’s Now Video of Scientists Wrestling That Record-Breaking Python Caught in Florida

Aug. 15, 2012 9:02am Liz Klimas

When you think of scientists working for the U.S. Geological Survey, you might picture them studying things like seismology graphs but that’s not all the department does. A recent video posted by USGS shows a team wrestling to control a giant python.

The snake in the video, according to the University of Florida’s press release issued Monday, set not only a state record for its size of 17 feet 7 inches but also the 87 eggs it had. According to the university’s website, the dead animal was brought to the Florida Museum from the Everglades National Park as part of a project through the USGS to study the increasingly invasive Burmese python species in the state.

Before the snake could be studied by the university though, it had to be captured and killed. The video (via io9) shows three adult men from USGS controlling the python and one saying even with all his muscle “she’s still stronger than me.”

Burmese Python Captured in Florida Everglades Breaks Two State Records

(Image: USGS/YouTube screenshot)

Watch the B-roll provided by the department for yourself to see the snake while it’s still alive (active footage starts around 0:55):

Florida Museum herpetology collection manager Kenneth Krysko said in a university statement the python brought in for research was healthy and well-fed. In its stomach feathers were found, but they’re also known to feed on bobcats, deer and other large animals. Here’s more from Krysko on the snake:

“This thing is monstrous, it’s about a foot wide,” [...] Krysko [said]. “It means these snakes are surviving a long time in the wild, there’s nothing stopping them and the native wildlife are in trouble.”

[...]

“A 17.5-foot snake could eat anything it wants,” Krysko said. “By learning what this animal has been eating and its reproductive status, it will hopefully give us insight into how to potentially manage other wild Burmese pythons in the future. It also highlights the actual problem, which is invasive species.”

In this Aug. 10, 2012 photo provided by the University of Florida, Florida Museum of Natural History researchers, from left, Rebecca Reichart, Leroy Nunez, Nicholas Coutu, Claudia Grant and Kenneth Krysko examine the internal anatomy of the largest Burmese python found in Florida to date, on the University of Florida campus. (Photo: AP//University of Florida, Kristen Grace)

Watch this report from the Florida Museum of Natural History:

Scientists said the python’s stats show just how pervasive the invasive snakes, which are native to Southeast Asia, have become in South Florida.

Tens of thousands of Burmese pythons are believed to be living in the Everglades, where they thrive in the warm, humid climate. While many were apparently released by their owners, others may have escaped from pet shops during Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and have been reproducing ever since.

Rob Robins, a biologist at the Florida Museum of Natural History, said the snakes are very hard to catch, and that since they have established themselves in the Everglades, they will be virtually impossible to eradicate.

“I think you’re going to see more and more big snakes like this caught,” he said.

Kenneth Krysko displays eggs found in the python. (Photo: AP//University of Florida, Kristen Grace)

According to the university, the previous records for Burmese pythons captured in the wild in the state was 16.8 feet and 85 eggs.

Read more about the snake’s research here.

– Are Pet Pythons Destroying the Florida Everglades Ecosystem?

– 21-Foot Python Found Next to Japanese Man’s Dead Body But Did It Kill Him?

– Watch Animal Control Struggle to Remove 13-Foot Burmese Python From Florida Family’s Pool

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Comments (83)

Dano.50
Posted on August 15, 2012 at 2:41pm
I don’t think people realize how dangerous big snakes are.

Snake handlers said they’d much rather get bitten by a poisonous snake as you’ve usually got several hours to get help.

With a constrictor big enough to take a human, especially a child, you’ve only got that few minutes it takes to suffocate.

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- FatFreedom
  Posted on August 15, 2012 at 3:08pm
  With 10 people all of which are probably paid by tax payer, they should be relative safe.. But because they probably are paid by the tax payer and are federal employees, and it is a dangerous job they probably only have to work for 20 years and get a $150k pension…
  
  Report this comment
- dmerwin
  Posted on August 15, 2012 at 10:57pm
  Jim? Marlin?
  
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- pdw
  Posted on August 15, 2012 at 11:49pm
  This is what happens when people think they need snakes for pets but let them go when they get too large to care for anymore.
  
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- MCDAVE
  Posted on August 16, 2012 at 12:52am
  These guys maybe needed to remove another overgrown serpent from our white house in Nov.
  
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- sillyfreshness
  Posted on August 16, 2012 at 3:10am
  I’m actually surprised they killed it. I would have thought they would have taken it to a zoo and advertised it as the largest in Florida. Also, I can see why the snake was fighting them. Look how it ended up (dead). I’d fight too.
  
  Report this comment
- TheHalfrican
  Posted on August 16, 2012 at 8:35am
  venomous, is the proper term. If a venomous snake bites you the doctors will inject you with anti-venom not anti-poison.
  
  Report this comment
- USA5
  Posted on August 17, 2012 at 12:45am
  AND how many snakes are out there. Dumb solution taking this snake to a zoo…when there is an exploding population in Florida. And what would a zoo do with 87 more huge snakes?
  
  Report this comment
- sillyfreshness
  Posted on August 17, 2012 at 2:15am
  You don’t think having the largest snake in the state would make it worthy of having it in a zoo? I know there are snake sanctuaries in Florida too. It’s not just any snake, but the largest ever discovered in that state. Trust me, it would have drawn tourists. Not dumb thank you very much.
  
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blair152
Posted on August 15, 2012 at 2:24pm
All the more reason to ban the sale, importation, and ownership, of these dangerous snakes.

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- kindling
  Posted on August 15, 2012 at 2:44pm
  To late!
  
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- lukerw
  Posted on August 15, 2012 at 3:10pm
  Open Season & Bounties… are more in Order!
  
  Report this comment
- BuzzardSays
  Posted on August 15, 2012 at 5:12pm
  Can I say just one thing…The skin would make for a great boot and belt ensemble for plenty of people who dig on that type of fashion. Unleash the hunters to go kill these things and viola the population would dwindle to bupkiss and the children of Florida would return to relative safety.
  
  But, until then keep yourselve armed with a 38 caliber sporting buckshot.
  
  Report this comment
- db321
  Posted on August 15, 2012 at 10:25pm
  You all are wasting your time on Romney. Ron Paul is the only one that can make all the snakes in America friendly. Paul know the Snake Constitution better than anyone.
  
  Report this comment
- TROONORTH
  Posted on August 16, 2012 at 9:16am
  Just wait until some bone-head dumps his Paraná into the everglades, if it hasn’t happened already.
  
  Report this comment
BilliamAZ
Posted on August 15, 2012 at 2:13pm
Did you see that? Obama supports are snake killers!

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- TAXEVERYONE
  Posted on August 15, 2012 at 9:21pm
  And the snake eats dog also.
  
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djmaine
Posted on August 15, 2012 at 1:44pm
Did you notice all the people getting a pay check around that snake. Tax dollars, grants, University tuition. At least they are doing really important work:)

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Ted Zeppelin
Posted on August 15, 2012 at 1:12pm
It’s a good thing the snake wasn’t hungry or there would be fewer USGS employees.

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warhorse_03826
Posted on August 15, 2012 at 1:05pm
CO2 fire extinguisher would have slowed her down quite a bit……..

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- NLN
  Posted on August 15, 2012 at 6:58pm
  A 12 ga would even be faster.
  
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Booty_malone
Posted on August 15, 2012 at 12:37pm
Florida should have a 365 days a year open season with no license required on these snakes. They are invasive and a big problem. I might even go shoot a few myself.

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siobhan3270
Posted on August 15, 2012 at 12:08pm
How sad that she had to be killed. Couldn’t she have been re-homed to Burma? Such an amazing creature. I agree they don’t belong here, but what a shame to destroy such a magnificent animal.

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- Rothbardian_in_the_Cleve
  Posted on August 15, 2012 at 12:28pm
  Keep your giant man eating freak to yourselves you “do-gooder” jerks.
  
  Signed,
  
  Burma
  
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- Crazymind
  Posted on August 15, 2012 at 4:34pm
  I agree it should have been brought to a zoo or sanctuary somewhere. Government killing animals. People next.
  
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- BDBerzerker
  Posted on August 15, 2012 at 5:18pm
  I wonder how many pairs of shoes that thing would make?
  
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- wolverine
  Posted on August 15, 2012 at 5:37pm
  Are you going to pay the bill to get this reptile back to Burma
  
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- NOT A CRAZY
  Posted on August 15, 2012 at 8:21pm
  You have to be kidding about sending it back to Burma. That is like saying you want American blacks sent back to Africa. This was a snake that was born in America and some moron like you released it into the Florida backcountry. Now it is destroying our native wildlife including endangered species. It needs a price on its head. I might move down there to hunt them if the price was right. If they could be trained to eat nothing but cats I might say let them stay but I doubt we could do that.
  
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- marie77
  Posted on August 15, 2012 at 8:59pm
  How sad indeed. Are you for real? Bring it back to Burma – do you even know where that is? And how do you think that poor thing got to South Florida in the first place – from the movie Snakes on a Plane? Didn’t your mother ever teach you to think before you speak, or in this case, write? I have to agree with Not A Crazy, that is like saying you want American blacks sent back to Africa. While there is no way to tell for certain, this snake was probably not a 1st generation “slave”, but several generations removed from a snake released by his “human” owner who could no longer take care of it, but did not think farther than his nose about the repercussions of releasing said animal into a wild habitat that it was not endemic to, simply because he/she did not have the cajones to admit his mistake and destroy it. And on a side note, who exactly should PAY for it’s relocation? You? Because I am not OK with that. Quite frankly, especially because I live in Florida, I am OK with killing it and studying its’ remains to determine how to eradicate a species that does not belong here and is upsetting the natural balance of the ecosystem.
  
  Report this comment
- Wango
  Posted on August 15, 2012 at 9:27pm
  FULL ON CRAZY . . . I’ll pay you $1000 a foot for any snake over 12 feet. Off you go. Send me the skin and I’ll send you the check, you manliest of mens. I bet you can score your own reality TV show. Maybe you and Bristol can do one together. I can see it now . . . Bristol Hunts the Big Ones with Full On Crazy.
  
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- DSTSS2010
  Posted on August 15, 2012 at 10:30pm
  There is no longer a country named Burma, it is now called Myanmar. Would that make this a Myanmarian Python?
  
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- JERZEE GIRL
  Posted on August 16, 2012 at 9:51am
  in china they had a snake that big in a zoo and had a dog walking around inside the snakes cage.
  it upset me to see that so i wonder if you would be the one to feed it if they let the snake live. i say kill the beast!!!!!!!!!!!!
  
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nick e l
Posted on August 15, 2012 at 12:03pm
These are NOT pets.. pets are dogs and cats.. they belong in the wild and these i diots who have them should get a life. If I see anything non indigenous species I will shoot it and not call anyone for capture.
Period.
Semper Fi

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Rothbardian_in_the_Cleve
Posted on August 15, 2012 at 11:57am
Maybe it will cross-breed with a rattlesnake or copperhead or coral snake. Then we could have 20 foot long POISONOUS pythons. It could be like a reptile version of Day of the Triffids.

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Marsh626
Posted on August 15, 2012 at 11:28am
They should all be hunted to extinction. This is America. Not the Amazon. I don’t want dangerous predators roaming – or slithering – around my yard. But I’m sure the environ-mental hordes will firebomb the homes of anyone who openly advocates such a policy. It’s only a matter of time before they cut a child out of one of these monsters. And I’m sure the eco-nutters will be quick to proclaim “That’s what you get for encroaching upon THEIR territory!1″

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sndrman
Posted on August 15, 2012 at 11:20am
just like the wild hog hunters maybe do a reality show about and send out camera crews and you’ll see them disappear quickly and themselves become on the endangered list….

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AnAmerican111
Posted on August 15, 2012 at 11:04am
That’s a big friggin snake!
Should let it give live in the white house with the rest of the snakes

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- betsyyoung
  Posted on August 15, 2012 at 11:58am
  Love it!
  
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Pokerjoe
Posted on August 15, 2012 at 11:00am
It wont be long. Someone will be killed by bigger ones. I hope the people who let them go are happy.

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- Weiners Wiener
  Posted on August 15, 2012 at 11:54am
  That’s already happened. There have been news reports of a toddler killed last year by a Florida python, a 15 year old strangled in his sleep by one, and a grown man whose body was found next to one of these monsters.
  
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- MCDAVE
  Posted on August 16, 2012 at 1:08am
  most of the snakes were introduced when the escaped their cages, during the destruction of homes by hurricanes ,exotic snakes and reptiles have become popular as pets in this country,unfortunately they can survive in some parts of our country
  
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team1blazer
Posted on August 15, 2012 at 10:27am
let us “bubbas” have at them…I’d love to have some python boots!

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bobad
Posted on August 15, 2012 at 10:16am
Only way to get rid of the feral pythons is to put out the word that they are delicious and illegal to kill.

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GrayPanther
Posted on August 15, 2012 at 9:59am
Looks like these BIG snakes will produce some more endangered species in Florida. Then, there will be more work for these nature lovers while pythons multiply 87 to one. Should be fun to watch!

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salvawhoray
Posted on August 15, 2012 at 9:53am
why did they kill it?
that snake could have been the star to “Snakes On A Plane 2″

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- USA5
  Posted on August 17, 2012 at 12:47am
  It didn’t have any acting experience.
  
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Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on August 15, 2012 at 9:49am
So why are the eco-extremists and EPA not screaming their lungs out over the scientists having taken the snake, killing it and then dissecting it? If anyone else had done so, they would be in jail by now.

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- marie77
  Posted on August 15, 2012 at 9:15pm
  Simple answer – not enough press.
  
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rpp
Posted on August 15, 2012 at 9:45am
So THAT is what eight years of college is for. Glad I missed it.

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Noah Pology
Posted on August 15, 2012 at 9:45am
The obligatory PETA protest will be issued in…..3,2,1.

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john vincent
Posted on August 15, 2012 at 9:42am
Ah yes, the treasures of nature. What a speciman of power, grace, and guile. And this within borders, imagine what unseen creatures have yet to be discovered in the fields of the deep, hidden from human eyes, beneath the great seas, laughing at the atheist and sceptic, proving GOd’s word as true? What a teacher nature is, if man would but pay attention.

Leviathan comes to mind, with scales akin to armor.
‘his snorting throws out flashes of light’
‘his breath sets coals ablaze’
‘nothing on eart is his equal’

Took no more effort for God to make an earthworm, than to make an anaconda, python, giraffe, or leviathan.

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Landon410
Posted on August 15, 2012 at 9:31am
thats a big f’ing snake

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ColoradoMaverick
Posted on August 15, 2012 at 9:08am
Wow, and I thought Obama was a big snake in the grass. At least this one is not destroying our country,

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- CulperGang
  Posted on August 15, 2012 at 9:38am
  Yup, the wrong snake. What was the purpose of killing it?? Oh, yeah, no particular reason. Typical Obama type response to harmless animals: KILL it it is in the way. This snake was ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY keeping the population of other animals from proliferating. Where the hell is the “green crowd” on this?? those fake hypocrites.
  Humans=wanton, slaughter and destruction.
  
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- SHOOTnCRASH
  Posted on August 15, 2012 at 11:29am
  @CulperGang there is a very good reason to kill it. This is a top predator introduced into an ecosystem where it has zero competition. The reason its so big is because it can literally eat anything and everything it comes across including the former top predators, this thing can easily take out crocodiles. The prey and predators in this area have evolved tactics of offense and defense to deal with each other. There is no doubt there are mind boggling number of these monsters here. Its a serious problem.
  
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- Crazyotto
  Posted on August 15, 2012 at 11:23pm
  ShootNCrash .. I agree.. these things are super predators… they need to be thinned out or else not only will little Jimmy be missing his dog but his parents are going to be missing him…
  
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biohazard23
Posted on August 15, 2012 at 9:07am
Ew. Just…. ew.

Although she could be made into a nice pair of strappy sandals. Where do I place my order?

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- JACKTHETOAD
  Posted on August 16, 2012 at 3:01am
  Only after we eat at Chick-Fil-SSSSssss…:)
  
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