The possibility of "supersnakes" -- vicious African Rock pythons breeding with dangerous Burmese pythons -- invading Miami may soon be a reality, after five of the ill-tempered African species were found earlier this week slithering through the county.
A state-coordinated hunt turned up the Rock Pythons, including a 14-foot long female, in a remote area of Miami-Dade, according to the Sun-Sentinel.
The find makes it inevitable that the species is breeding in South Florida, and very likely that they could be breeding with the Burmese species.
An article in National Geographic this past September first explored this interbreeding possibility, warning that the effects on the ecosystems of Miami and South Florida could be devastating.
The rock pythons are "so mean, they come out of the egg striking," Kenneth Krysko, senior herpetologist at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville said. "This is just one vicious animal."
"We can't rule out the possibility that the introduction of genes from a different species might do something that would allow [the rock pythons] to be even more effective at persisting in Florida and perhaps expanding," wildlife biologist Robert Reed told the magazine.
Meanwhile, snake hunters are still out in South Florida, trying to eradicate the area's non-native python population. Dozens of the snakes have been captured and killed since the state began its licensed hunting program to try to contain their numbers, believed to be in the tens of thousands.
