NAPLES, Fla. (WBBH) – A newly released recording shows a Burmese python swallowing an entire deer. Biologists said it’s evidence of something larger going on across Florida.
Ian Bartoszek and Ian Easterling, biologists with the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, partnered with the University of Cincinnati to learn more about how invasive Burmese pythons are affecting the local ecosystem.
During an outing last December on private lands just outside of Naples, Easterling became excited after spotting the snake with a deer.
“We looked over and you can see some of the photographs that came from that,” Bartoszek said. “So, we all, kind of chilled out, laid on the ground nearby and recorded some pretty neat video imagery.”
A 115-lb. female Burmese python swallowed a 77-lb., full-sized white-tailed deer. To put that into perspective, that would be like a 150-lb. person swallowing 100 lbs. of food in one gulp.
And if that wasn’t remarkable enough, the python set a new record opening its mouth 10.2 inches wide.
“So those are some weird measurements to wrap your head around. But these animals should not be underestimated. They are capable of swallowing immense size prey,” Bartoszek said.
Officials said the python was humanely euthanized for further research.
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