Pythons do have a home!

How do I get home? Well for a Burmese python (Python bivittatus) its simple! Recently reported in BBC news, they have found in the Florida Everglades that Burmese pythons, an invasive species to the area, may have methods of getting home using  senses acting like a map or compass, somewhat similar to the magnetic compass found in sea turtles. Even though some say this is a new but unexpected expectation based previous field observations, it may actually be the key way to understand how this invasive species moves and migrates within the Florida Everglades.  Dr. Secor of the University of Alabama notes that these pythons are surprisingly gentle snakes who in reality can not move out of the everglades mainly because it would be too cold and they could not survive.
In experiments completed in hope of gaining more knowledge of the Pythons migrational pattens as well as to how they are spreading at such a rate gave rise to this discovery. In the experiment twelve pythons were captured from an area within the Everglades and each were then fitted with GPS radio-transmitters.  Six of the twelve were released where they were initially captured while the other six were released into other areas 13-23 miles away from their original capture site. Astonishingly, the majority of the snakes who were released in a different site made no hesitation while they raced back to their original capture site locations, or in other words towards home. Scientists had expected the snakes to make a new home range in the site of release but were flabbergasted by the outcome results. Not only does this show that these massive snakes are able to have a broad range when it comes to homing but it also shows that they have a map and compass sense to aid in finding home. The map sense aids them in where they are located in relation to their home and could possibly be magnetic like observed in sea turtles. The compass sense aids them in the actual journey home by using olfactory cues, polarized sunlight or even by the stars.

This discovery as noted in the article, is something that had not been documented but was somewhat expected. Even though this had not been documented, noting the fact that these massively large snakes actually are familiar with a particular territory can help aid us in further studies. Not only about the large snakes themselves but more about how to handle this invasive species that have caused some problems and worries within the Florida Everglades. Scientists can further this study and observe the pythons territorial patterns and hopefully figure out a way to help control the resulting effects of this invasive species. As well as, help people become more aware about how this species functions and lives rather then referring to them only as an "ecological disasters." Overall in my humble opinion this subtle discovery is actually a breakthrough that can be and should be continued. There is more discussion publicly on how these reptiles have been destroying the Florida Everglades, and this may be an insight into understanding more about how to manage this invasive species. Although the short BBC news report, on which this blog is written about was very short, the majority of the article are quotes taken from direct sources that help the articles scientific discovery seem more viable.

Kimmy Profitko
Herps in the News
March 24, 2014

BBC News article 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26635939