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Enormous Pythons Overtake Everglades Ecosystem

Environmentalists wishing to "rewild" much of the U.S. to save our planet may have to rethink man's role in nature.  America has a border problem, but it's not the one you're thinking about. The U.S. can't keep invasive plants and animals out of its ecosystems, and stories of their destruction continually appear in the news cycle.

Burmese pythons are capturing headlines. These snakes can grow to 16 feet and eat almost anything -- even alligators (click if you dare, it's a photo of an alligator carcass and a dead python that burst open while devouring it). Since 2003, as a new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences notes, the increase of the python population from just a few to perhaps a few thousand has been connected to declines of several native mammals.

The Everglades is a 4,000 square mile ecosystem and it is unknown how much eco-damage has occurred, nor how many species the snakes have destroyed.  Read more.




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