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Here’s a quick update on the amazing story of the Burmese pythons that, brought to Florida as a result of the laxly regulated trade in exotic reptiles, have been spreading and breeding in the state, with the Everglades National Park providing a particularly large buffet of wildlife for feeding. (Read the United States Geological Survey report Severe Declines in Everglades Mammals Linked to Pythons for more.)

In April, geological survey biologists caught the largest python yet seen in the state — a female measuring 17 feet, 7 inches. (Watch the video above, shot by Catherine Puckett of the agency.) After inserting four different tracking devices, they conducted a 38-day study of its feeding habits and movements. It turned out to be a wise move to stop the study then, because the snake was found with 87 eggs inside her during a necropsy.*

The analysis of this female along with 16 other pythons that were recently tracked, is undergoing review and will be published soon, I was told by Kristen M. Hart, a research ecologist with the survey.

I asked her to provide a bit more detail on the eggs. Hart replied:

The female was out in the wild for 38 days, and during this time her eggs developed. We did not know that she was fully reproductive when we put her out. We suspected she might be breeding this year based on her size, and excellent body condition. During the tracking period, we got visusals on her at least once, if not twice, weekly, so we had many chances to see if she had laid eggs. However, the time frame for egg-laying would have been a bit later than when we tracked her so we were on top of her and if she had laid eggs, we would have gotten them. Nests have been documented before in the Everglades, and the female actually sits on them.

The agency is eager for Florida residents to keep an eye out for these snakes, given that there have been reliable sightings as far away as the Panhandle region, hundreds of miles from the main population hot spots. (Click here for a map showing that sighting and hundreds of others.)

Even when radio tagged, pythons can be incredibly hard to spot, as I discovered when I was out in the Everglades with federal biologists in 2007 to do reporting for “A Movable Beast,” my 2007 feature on the species’ adventures in Florida. The tagged python was tracked to a tuft of brush, but remained invisible until I happened to glance down toward my feet (my grainy video).

It’s clear that, at best, state and federal wildlife officials are keeping the species at bay. Pythons are here for the long haul.

A challenge going forward, whether with introduced animals, plants or pathogens, will be to know when to fight an invasive species (it’s worth pushing on pythons, biologists say) and when to accommodate them.

As I wrote in 2011, to a certain extent, “it may be time to get over our unease with the biological mashup around us.” This is the notion behind Emma Marris’s fine book, “Rambunctious Garden.”

Here’s more background on the giant female python provided by Catherine Puckett:

This female Burmese python broke the records for her length — 17 feet, 7 inches — and the number of eggs she contained: 87. She was first captured in Everglades National Park by USGS researchers in the spring of 2012, when they followed a “Judas snake” — a male python with a transmitter — and found her nearby in the bushes. USGS scientists then outfitted her with two radio transmitters, a GPS device, and a motion-sensing device before releasing her back into the wild. The second radio transmitter was a failsafe, ensuring she wouldn’t “go wild” again. The snake remained in the wild for 38 days and then was removed and euthanized*. The information from this snake’s every move — each pitch, roll, and yawl — was recorded by the motion detector, allowing biologists to piece together her behaviors, including her kills. Biologists plan to use detailed information about the snake’s biology and activity patterns to develop control methods for this invasive species. Pythons are effective at blending in the tall marsh grasses that give the Everglades its nickname, “The River of Grass,” making it hard to spot the pythons even when they are being radiotracked. Click here for more information on USGS python research and read our most recent python-related press release. For frequently asked questions, click here.

Here’s a note from Puckett answering readers’ queries about why the snake was killed after its recapture: