{"id":16642,"date":"2022-05-18T08:00:16","date_gmt":"2022-05-18T06:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/?p=61841"},"modified":"2022-05-18T08:20:12","modified_gmt":"2022-05-18T06:20:12","slug":"a-new-everglades-contest-has-begun-cat-versus-snake","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/a-new-everglades-contest-has-begun-cat-versus-snake\/","title":{"rendered":"A new Everglades contest has begun: cat versus snake"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Kenny Taylor\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 18 May 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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First sighted in the Everglades National Park<\/a>, Florida, USA, in the 1990s and not recorded as breeding there until 2000, Burmese pythons have since caused major declines in birds, mammals and other reptiles.<\/p>\n

These huge snakes compete with native wildlife for food and eat creatures such as raccoons and opossums which \u2013 like pythons \u2013 often forage at the water\u2019s edge in Florida\u2019s subtropical swamps.<\/p>\n

The import of Burmese pythons as exotic pets to the US is now banned and Florida has removed restrictions on hunting them, but their population continues to swell. That makes trail camera footage of a native bobcat taking eggs from a python nest potentially very significant.<\/p>\n