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Florida Burmese python lays 96 eggs in abandoned concrete pipe nest

By · Via Times of India · Published by Everything Blog

In short

A radio-tracked female python measuring 442 centimeters in snout-to-vent length nested within a building material storage area in Big Cypress National Preserve. The snake utilized shivering thermogenesis inside a culvert pipe to keep the clutch at approximately 33 degrees Celsius, well above ambient conditions. Camera monitoring revealed that the massive reptile successfully deterred two Virginia opossums that entered the pipe before 83 eggs eventually hatched.

Key points

  • Invasive Burmese pythons can successfully adapt to human-made structures rather than rely…: Invasive Burmese pythons can successfully adapt to human-made structures rather than relying exclusively on natural forest debris for nesting.
  • Muscular shivering thermogenesis allows brooding pythons to maintain nest temperatures mo…: Muscular shivering thermogenesis allows brooding pythons to maintain nest temperatures more than 5 degrees above ambient environmental levels.
  • Exceptionally large clutches can yield nearly double the average Florida python clutch si…: Exceptionally large clutches can yield nearly double the average Florida python clutch size of roughly 49 eggs.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

Researchers in Florida have documented rare egg-laying and hatching events in a wild Burmese python, revealing new details about how the invasive snakes reproduce and survive in human-altered environments. The female laid 96 eggs inside an abandoned concrete pipe in the Greater Everglades Ecosystem, producing 83 hatchlings, making it the largest verified Burmese python clutch recorded at the time of the study. According to the study published in Ecosphere, titled ‘

Wild Burmese python nest site selection, thermogenesis, and brooding behaviours in the Greater Everglades Ecosystem’, the research documented the snake's nesting behaviour, including how it generated heat by shivering while protecting its eggs, offering a rare account of the species' reproduction in the wild.

Why did the python choose a concrete pipe to nest

The researchers were tracking wild Burmese pythons in the Greater Everglades Ecosystem as part of ongoing investigations into invasive reptiles. On 28 January 2022, they captured an adult female python weighing 73.6kg and measuring 442cm in snout-to-vent length. Radio tracking later helped them locate the animal's nesting site on 23 May 2022.

The female had…

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