AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
When it comes to unwelcome guests, an 18-foot Burmese python is as big as they come. The snake is native to Southeast Asia, but it's found a real home in south Florida's Everglades.
IAN BARTOSZEK: Florida is a perfect-storm situation for a reptile to become established out in the Greater Everglades. We have a vibrant pet trade, many ports of entry and subtropical climate in the southern portion of the state and up into the central portion. And, yes, this one is very much out of the bag.
RASCOE: Ian Bartoszek is a wildlife biologist and science project manager at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. He says the mighty constrictors don't really pose a threat to humans, but to other animals in the everglades, they can be lethal.
BARTOSZEK: Our research partners at the University of Florida have identified up to 86 species of animal from the bellies of python, showing us that they're very much a generalist apex predator. They are consuming their way through the food web.
RASCOE: One giant, invasive species eating its way through the food chain is no way to maintain a balanced ecosystem. So for a long time, the Conservancy has been trying to unwind the python's stranglehold on the area. Their secret weapon - Burmese pythons themselves. Male ones, that is.
BARTOSZEK: We started tracking Burmese pythons over a decade ago, learning about their behavior. We started with four snakes back then. Fast forward to present, we have 40 animals. Somewhere in between, we realized that our male snakes were finding us big females in the breeding season.
RASCOE: Those big females can lay up to 100 eggs during a breeding season. Finding them is key to keeping the python population in check. In just over a decade, the Conservancy says it's culled 20 tons of python from a 200-square-mile area of the Everglades.
But it's not just humans who are fighting the pythons. The wildlife is getting some revenge. Scientists recently discovered Loki - one of the male pythons they had been tracking - headless, body buried under pine needles. Turns out, Loki met his end at the claws of a bobcat, which surprised researchers since bobcats are typically half the size of a Burmese python.
BARTOSZEK: So very much a win for the home team, a win for the Everglades on that one. And we were a little bit sad to lose a valuable scout snake, but at the same time, it was also great to see the Everglades pushing back.
RASCOE: Bartoszek says this doesn't mean we'll see a big bobcat rebellion against the pythons, but the fact that it happened is a good sign.
BARTOSZEK: I think what we're seeing is that our native animals are figuring out an available resource. So that gives us a little bit of hope that the system is balancing itself out to some degree.
RASCOE: But whether or not nature balances itself out, the experts would still like your help. If you're ever in the Everglades and encounter a Burmese python, don't panic. Just grab your phone and call their special hotline.
BARTOSZEK: That number is 888-IVEGOT1.
RASCOE: Calling a hotline? - well, that's easier than fighting like a bobcat.
(SOUNDBITE OF DURAN DURAN SONG, "UNION OF THE SNAKE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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