DesertFox
02-21-2008, 04:46 PM
In addition to everything else to worry about, now comes the Burmese python.
The giant snakes are slithering from Florida toward the Bay Area, very slowly to be sure, but inexorably. And they can strangle and eat an entire alligator.
The U.S. Geological Survey released a map Wednesday showing that the Bay Area has comfortable climatic conditions for the python. It also said the reptile, which prefers to swallow its prey in one gulp, is "highly adaptable to new environments" and cannot be stopped.
http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2008/02/21/mn_python21_ph1.jpg
Fight to the death. Obama takes on -- somebody
The snakes weigh up to 250 pounds and slither at a rate of 20 miles per month, according to USGS zoologist Gordon Rodda. They are not staying put. In fact, one of them has already slithered about 100 miles toward San Francisco. ...
The natural enemies of the python are lions, tigers and other large cats. There are few free-roaming African lions and tigers between Florida and San Francisco, the geological survey said. And the absence of alligators outside Florida can only help the snakes on their journey west, although it's a complicated relationship - while pythons eat alligators, alligators also eat pythons. ...
... the geological survey ... released a fearsome photograph showing just what the Bay Area is in for. In the picture, a 20-foot-long python is encircling and attempting to strangle a full-grown alligator, while the alligator is doing its best to swallow the python. It is not for the faint of heart.
More (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/02/21/MNABV5PP3.DTL)
The giant snakes are slithering from Florida toward the Bay Area, very slowly to be sure, but inexorably. And they can strangle and eat an entire alligator.
The U.S. Geological Survey released a map Wednesday showing that the Bay Area has comfortable climatic conditions for the python. It also said the reptile, which prefers to swallow its prey in one gulp, is "highly adaptable to new environments" and cannot be stopped.
http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2008/02/21/mn_python21_ph1.jpg
Fight to the death. Obama takes on -- somebody
The snakes weigh up to 250 pounds and slither at a rate of 20 miles per month, according to USGS zoologist Gordon Rodda. They are not staying put. In fact, one of them has already slithered about 100 miles toward San Francisco. ...
The natural enemies of the python are lions, tigers and other large cats. There are few free-roaming African lions and tigers between Florida and San Francisco, the geological survey said. And the absence of alligators outside Florida can only help the snakes on their journey west, although it's a complicated relationship - while pythons eat alligators, alligators also eat pythons. ...
... the geological survey ... released a fearsome photograph showing just what the Bay Area is in for. In the picture, a 20-foot-long python is encircling and attempting to strangle a full-grown alligator, while the alligator is doing its best to swallow the python. It is not for the faint of heart.
More (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/02/21/MNABV5PP3.DTL)