While Florida's snakes are quite large, they've been known to balloon up to freakish proportions across the world, in their native Asian habitats: One python captured in Malaysia in 2016 notched a length of around 26 feet. The particular python found on Sunday is the Everglade's largest on record, but only by a smidge: In 2016, researchers tracked down a 16-foot, 140-pound serpent somewhere in the marshlands. The team not only removes the invasive snakes, but collects data for research, develop new removal tools, and learn how the pythons are using the Preserve.

Sunday's statement reads: Using male pythons with radio transmitters allows the team to track the male to locate breeding females. Researchers used a rather ironic method to corral Sunday's snake: Hitching transmitters to male snakes allows scientists to track their mating patterns, and thus pinpoint their larger female counterparts. As a result, python capturing contests are often held in the Everglades, doubling as a sort of cultural pastime and conservation effort. A breeding facility that perished during Hurricane Andrew in 1992 has also been linked to the deluge. Much of the current population are offspring of snakes unleashed by disbanded pet shops years ago. They feast off the ample mammal species such as possums and raccoons that scuttle throughout the swamps.Ĭurrently an invasive menace, pythons have been proliferating en masse for years. Though they aren't a native species in the Everglades, Burmese Pythons have basically colonized the habitat.

Snakes thrive in the humid swamplands south of Miami, with 100,000 pythons alone crawling throughout the the 729,000-acre park, according to CNN.

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