NAPLES, Fla.— Researchers studying invasive Burmese pythons in Florida came upon something they’d never seen before: an 11-foot-long python had consumed an entire deer that weighed more than the snake itself. The wildlife biologists tracking the slithery creatures stumbled upon bloated snake in Collier Seminole State Park, and when they moved the creature it began regurgitating a white-tailed deer fawn. Biologist Ian Bartoszek told the Naples Daily News that the fawn weighed 35 pounds; the snake 31.5. White-tailed deer are an important food source for Florida’s endangered panthers, so the researchers are concerned the pervasive snakes could also impact the health of the big cats. If the snake had been left in the wild, it would have digested the entire deer, Bartoszek said.

Source: thestar March 03, 2018 19:00 UTC