A Burmese python has set a new record for super fertility with 96 eggs.
“To our knowledge, this is the largest brood size ever documented for a free-range Burmese python,” said Amy Yackel Adams, of the US Geological Survey team responsible for tracking and tracing the new python mother, in a conversation with New Scientist. announced that she ovulated about half the number.
The python first caught the team’s attention after it dropped what appeared to be an unusually large egg cluster on May 23, 2022. But due to the way pythons incubate their young, they were only able to get the true number of eggs until they were close to hatching.
“They wrap tightly around the eggs and vibrate to generate heat to keep the eggs at a certain temperature,” Yackel Adams said. “Then they move away when the eggs are close to hatching.”
The team reported that out of 96 eggs, 83 resulted in birth and the remaining 13 appeared lifeless. Some of these lifeless eggs were smaller and misshapen compared to their siblings. While the length of the eggs hatched by the fry was 7.7 centimeters on average, the lifeless ones were reduced to 5.5 centimeters.
This python lives in Florida, in the Great Cypress National Preserve on the edge of the Everglades. While the 5-metre-long python isn’t the largest ever recorded in the area, this size comes pretty close.
However, as their name suggests, Burmese pythons are not naturally found in this region. They are technically classified as an invasive species, but their population has been increasing steadily since the 1970s, and the group, once a few illegal pets imported from Southeast Asia, now stands out as a free-range and freely-breeding endangered species with a five-digit population. .
Although not considered a threat to humans as they are not venomous and mostly avoid humans, the proliferation of Burmese pythons has nonetheless wiped out species that were once common in the area. Swamp rabbits or raccoons are no longer easy to find in Everglades National Park, Yackel Adams said.
The study was published on Reptiles and Amphibians.
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