pythons

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Want a Sustainable Meal? Try Eating Python
Want a Sustainable Meal?
Try Eating Python
new study

Want a Sustainable Meal? Try Eating Python

A study on python farms found the snake meat was more efficient than livestock

(Newser) - Tastes just like chicken? Python meat apparently has a similar texture and taste to the white meat, but with less impact on the environment. According to ABC News , a new study published in Scientific Reports says these snakes would serve up an eco-friendlier portion of protein than poultry, pork, or...

Guy Who Surfs With Pet Python Hit With a Fine

Wildlife authorities aren't pleased with Australia's Higor Fiuza and his snake, Shiva

(Newser) - Higor Fiuza is a familiar face in the beach community along Australia's Gold Coast, and he's often got Shiva in tow. Shiva isn't the name of his surfboard, or a canine companion—that's his pet Morelia bredli python, who accompanies Fiuza in the water as he...

Protests Force Moulin Rouge to Drop Snake Act

Terrestrial snakes were dropped in water tank with cabaret dancer

(Newser) - The snake show is now history at Paris' historic Moulin Rouge cabaret. The club has dropped a long-running act in which a dancer swims around snakes in a water tank, the Guardian reports. Animal rights campaigners said the snakes involved, Southeast Asian reticulated and Indian pythons, were terrestrial species and...

Feel Like Watching a Gator Body-Slam a Python? Voila!
In Gator vs. Python,
Guess Who Wins?
VIDEO

In Gator vs. Python, Guess Who Wins?

Woman records body-slamming encounter in Florida Everglades, in which reptile claims victory

(Newser) - It's survival of the fittest in the Everglades, and if you're wondering who might win in a showdown between an alligator and a Burmese python, this clip recorded by Katina Boychew should put that question to rest. Per NBC2 , the Florida woman was visiting the wetlands preserve last...

Pythons Were Once in a Sliver of Florida. No More

They're now in the bottom third of the state, and spreading rapidly

(Newser) - Good news, anyone who's terrified of a) snakes or b) Florida ! You now have basically absolutely no reason to visit the Sunshine State, or perhaps the soon-to-be Python State. As the Sun-Sentinel reports, the population of invasive Burmese pythons has gone from a few in the very southern tip...

14-Foot Python Found Dead on Side of New York Road

Officials are trying to find out who owned it

(Newser) - Finding animals dead on the side of the road is not uncommon. But finding a 14-foot-long python dead on the side of the road is. That's what happened on Valentine's Day in New York, when the state's Department of Environmental Conservation got word that a large snake...

Possums Provide Way to Catch Pythons. The Hard Way
Possums Provide Way to Catch
Pythons. The Hard Way
new study

Possums Provide Way to Catch Pythons. The Hard Way

Snake ate one with a GPS collar, and researchers were able to track and kill it

(Newser) - Researchers didn't set out to turn possums into python meals, but their study nevertheless suggests a novel way to curb the invasive snake population in Florida. As the Tampa Bay Times explains, wildlife researchers fitted possums and raccoons with GPS collars to study their populations near the Crocodile Lake...

5-Year-Old Attacked by Python, Pulled Into Pool

Family says Australia's Beau Blake is just fine

(Newser) - An Australian boy has survived the unthinkable: being bitten then constricted by a 10-foot-long python and then tumbling into a swimming pool with the snake attached. Beau Blake's family says the 5-year-old had been walking around a home pool when father Ben "saw a big black shadow come...

Woman Found Dead in Belly of a Python
First They Found Her Sandals,
Then a Bloated Snake
in case you missed it

First They Found Her Sandals, Then a Bloated Snake

Woman in Indonesia set out for work at a rubber plantation, didn't return home

(Newser) - It's an occurrence so chilling and rare that it's being reported around the globe: An Indonesian woman apparently lost her life to a python, with local reports confirming her body was found in the snake's stomach. The Guardian reports a woman identified as Jahrah, 54, left for...

Florida Teen Captures 28 Pythons, Gets Top Prize

1K people took part in 10-day contest

(Newser) - A 19-year-old South Florida man captured 28 Burmese pythons during a 10-day competition that was created to increase awareness about the threats the invasive snakes pose to the state's ecology. Matthew Concepcion was among the 1,000 participants from 32 states, Canada, and Latvia who participated in the annual...

Feds: Smuggler Stashed Pythons in His Pants

He was caught after crossing Canadian border

(Newser) - A New York City man has been hit with a federal smuggling charge, more than four years after authorities said he was caught with pythons in his pants. Authorities say Calvin Bautista, 36, tried to smuggle three Burmese pythons into the US on a bus from Canada but was caught...

Florida's Python Hunt Is On
Florida's Python Hunt Is On

Florida's Python Hunt Is On

Competitors from 32 states, Canada search for invasive species

(Newser) - More than 800 competitors will be trudging through the Florida Everglades for the next eight days, in search of invasive Burmese pythons that will bring in thousands of dollars in prize money. The python hunt officially began Friday morning and runs through 5pm Aug. 15, according to officials who gathered...

Python Escapes From Home, Bites Neighbor on Toilet
He Sat on the
Toilet at Dawn.
Suddenly, a 'Nip'
in case you missed it

He Sat on the Toilet at Dawn. Suddenly, a 'Nip'

Python escapes from Austria apartment, ends up in neighbor's bathroom

(Newser) - An elderly Austrian man had an unpleasant surprise waiting for him while answering nature's call early Monday: a python, in his toilet. The man, identified by the BBC as 65-year-old Walter Erhart, tells the broadcaster that he "went to the toilet as usual" in his Graz apartment around...

One State Wants to Put Pythons on the Menu

It has 'the texture of fish, but ... tastes more like chicken'

(Newser) - Python and a brew, anyone? That might just become a happy-hour special in Florida if it turns out the snakes are safe enough to eat. But state officials first have to figure out whether Florida pythons contain too much mercury, CNN reports. "We would like to use consumption as...

2 Reasons Why This Python's 7 Eggs Are Totally Weird

First, she's 62 years old. Second, she hasn't been near a male python for 2 decades

(Newser) - A 62-year-old ball python surprised experts at the St. Louis Zoo by laying seven eggs, despite not being near a male python for at least two decades. Mark Wanner, manager of herpetology at the zoo, says it's unusual but not unheard of for ball pythons to reproduce asexually. The...

After Ga. Homeowner Kills Python in Yard, a Warning

'Please do NOT release exotic animals'

(Newser) - Pythons are native to Southeast Asia, Australia, and Africa—so when they turn up in someone's yard in the US, it attracts notice. That's what recently happened at a home in Walton County, Ga., where what looks like a ball python showed up, only to meet its demise...

Thousands of Pythons Removed From Everglades

Namely, 5K since 2017

(Newser) - Burmese pythons have invaded the Florida Everglades and are wreaking havoc, and last week, the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced it has removed 5,000 of them from the ecosystem since a python elimination program was established in 2017. The snakes, which likely got established after pets were...

The Python Hunters Barely Make a Dent. That's OK
The Python Hunters Barely
Make a Dent. That's OK
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

The Python Hunters Barely Make a Dent. That's OK

Inside the annual hunt for the invasive species

(Newser) - If you assume the alligator is the king of the heap when it comes to Everglades predators, you could be wrong at this point. "I found alligators in them," says Donna Kalil. The 57-year-old python elimination specialist for the South Florida Water Management District is talking about Burmese...

Before Miami's Super Bowl, a Massive Snake Hunt

'Python Bowl' participants to hunt down invasive Burmese pythons for cash and prizes

(Newser) - Miami's upcoming Super Bowl will mean death for dozens of invasive Burmese pythons in the Everglades—and wildlife officials say that's a good thing. The game's organizing committee is working with Florida to promote the Python Bowl, a 10-day contest that began Friday that will give out...

Woman Found Dead in House With Python Around Her Neck

There were 140 snakes in the home

(Newser) - An Indiana woman found with an 8-foot-long python wrapped around her neck had apparently kept snakes at the residence, which was filled with snakes and outfitted for a collection of the reptiles, police say. Laura Hurst, 36, was found unresponsive Wednesday night on the floor of a home in the...

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