What to Know
- The breeding aggregation with seven snakes, six males and one massive female weighing 115 pounds, is being called the largest ever found.
- “Argo” also found two female snakes each weighing more than 100 pounds this season.
A Burmese python named “Argo” fitted with a tracking device led researchers to what’s being called the largest bed of breeding snakes ever discovered.
The sentinel python slithered his way to the massive breeding aggregation containing seven snakes – six males and one massive female weighing 115 pounds.
Researchers at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida released the reptile with a surgically implanted tracking device to search for female pythons during the invasive species’ busy breeding season.
In addition to finding six male pythons this season, officials say “Argo” found two female snakes each weighing more than 100 pounds. The two massive females would have laid more than 120 eggs, according to wildlife biologist Ian Bartoszek.
Breeding takes place from January through April, in which the female snakes are larger than males. Females will then guard the nest for weeks until the eggs hatch.
Local
As of March 1, conservancy biologists and researchers have removed an estimated 10,000 pounds of pythons and more than 3,000 developing eggs from the ecosystem.
