Burmese pythons had dominated southern Florida for roughly twenty years, preying on deer, wading birds, and even alligators. They helped empty large sections of Everglades National Park of raccoons, opossums, and rabbits. In 2021, however, researchers encountered something they had never documented: a mammal killing a full-grown python on land.
A 13-foot, 52-pound male python, tagged with a radio transmitter by the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, was found dead near Naples. A Florida panther had apparently killed it. The discovery ended a long-held assumption about the region’s food chain.
The Burmese python is native to Southeast Asia. In the 1970s, it became a popular pet in the United States. Hatchlings were small enough to curl up in a hand, but they did not stay small. Some owners released their pets into the swamp when they became too large to manage. In August 1992, Hurricane Andrew destroyed a python breeding facility south of Miami, and snakes escaped into the surrounding area. By 2000, biologists confirmed that pythons were breeding in the wild.
The Everglades proved to be a suitable environment. Python reproduction is one reason the species spread so quickly. A female can live more than 20 years and produce about 70 eggs every two years. Pythons also eat nearly anything they can swallow, and they can wait months between meals. Once they reach a certain size, few local animals can harm them.
The toll on native wildlife was severe. A 2012 study led by biologist Michael Dorcas compared road surveys from the late 1990s with later counts. Raccoon observations fell by 99.3%, opossums by 98.9%, and bobcats by 87.5%. Marsh rabbits and foxes were not seen at all. A separate study tracked radio-collared marsh rabbits and found that pythons were responsible for most deaths.
Around 2017, Florida began hiring contracted hunters to remove pythons. In 2012, the federal government banned importing Burmese pythons into the country, but by then, the wild population was already established.
In the summer of 2021, a camera trap in Big Cypress National Preserve captured bobcats raiding python nests. The bobcats ate some eggs, carried others away, and buried them for later. They returned repeatedly. On one occasion, a female python returned to her nest while a bobcat was there. The bobcat struck at her with its paws. This was the first recorded instance of a mammal feeding on python eggs in Florida.
Later that year, after a period of cold weather, a bobcat was documented killing an adult male python. The python, named Loki, was a scout animal carrying a radio transmitter. Researchers from the Conservancy of Southwest Florida had been tracking him during the December breeding season in hopes he would lead them to females. Instead, his signal stopped. They found him dead, buried under pine needles, with his head bitten off. A trail camera placed at the scene captured a bobcat returning to eat the carcass two days later. A 25-pound bobcat had killed a 52-pound python.
The cold likely played a role. Pythons cannot regulate their body heat. During cold weather, they become slower and less responsive. A python caught in the open during a cold snap would be easier for a predator to overpower. This does not mean the cold alone solves the problem. A 2018 study found signs of natural selection in genes related to heat sensing and behavior after a freeze in January 2010, suggesting surviving pythons may pass on traits that make them better at hiding during cold weather.
Other native predators have also been recorded eating pythons. A 2023 study titled “The Natives Strike Back” documented alligators eating five young pythons and Florida cottonmouths eating three. Small mammals, including a cotton rat, killed several more juveniles. Herons were filmed raiding a python nest in Broward County in 2023, puncturing all 17 eggs. Several other species, including the eastern indigo snake, the American crocodile, and the Florida kingsnake, have been documented eating young pythons since 2006.
These predators primarily target eggs, hatchlings, and juveniles. No native predator has been documented killing a large adult female python in good condition. Adult females are the primary breeders, and removing them is the most effective way to reduce the population. Locating them, however, is difficult. In one experiment, experienced herpetologists found only about 1% of pythons placed inside an enclosed natural area. Scent dogs performed better, finding about 73%, but limestone terrain wears on their paws and water washes away scent trails.
The Conservancy of Southwest Florida developed a method using male “scout snakes” fitted with radio transmitters. During the breeding season, from November through April, researchers track these males as they search for females. When a male stops moving, he may have found a mate. Researchers then approach the location and remove the female. In 2025, this program removed 77 pythons weighing a total of 8,080 pounds in Collier County alone. Females averaged 95 pounds and carried about 70 eggs each.
Florida has removed more than 23,000 pythons since 2017, with annual totals ranging from about 1,600 to 3,600. No one knows exactly how many remain. Estimates range from 30,000 to more than 300,000. Climate models suggest pythons can only survive in southern Florida and possibly a narrow strip of far southern Texas.
That year brought signs that the overall population growth may be slowing. In areas where scout snakes have been used to remove breeding females, researchers reported that male pythons take longer to find mates and the females they find are smaller. This suggests fewer large reproductive females remain. In areas without sustained removal efforts, python numbers remain higher. It is too soon to conclude whether native predators will significantly reduce the python population on their own, but documented cases of bobcats, bears, alligators, and other local wildlife consuming pythons have become more common.
